Former President Goodluck Jonathan and Kenyan Pan Africanist Prof. PLO Lumumba have urged Nigeria to overhaul its education system, invest heavily in technology, and build a stronger military as non negotiable steps toward securing the country's future.

Both leaders made the call during the plenary session of the Nigerian Bar Association Yenagoa Branch Law Week, held at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board Conference Hall in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Jonathan, addressing participants on the theme "Securing the Future," argued that Nigeria's education system remained largely unchanged from the colonial structure it inherited and required urgent reform.

"Before we secure the future, education must be properly planned. In Nigeria, we need a robust restructuring of our educational system. We have not changed from the colonial education system that we inherited," he stated.

The former president pointed to India as a model, noting that deliberate investment in education and skills development had produced chief executives running some of the world's most powerful corporations.

"These things do not happen by chance. It is because that country planned early and prepared the people who would eventually control strategic sectors of the global economy," Jonathan noted.

He also recalled launching the Presidential Scholarship for Innovation and Development during his administration to support graduates in science and technology disciplines, and stressed that military capacity was essential to earning global respect.

"By now, we should be producing missiles, but we have not produced anything that can even travel 50 metres. Nobody respects a weak nation," he added.

Lumumba, delivering a keynote on sustainable national asset protection in Africa, echoed the position on military strength, arguing that Africa must grow economically, politically, and militarily to command international respect. He cited North Korea, Russia, and Israel as nations whose strength shapes how they are treated globally.

The Kenyan scholar also questioned Africa's dependence on foreign banking systems and called for financial integration, including a possible common African currency, stronger regional Institutions, and harmonised legal frameworks across blocs, including ECOWAS and the East African Community.

NBA Yenagoa Branch Chairman Clement Kekemeke said the Law Week theme extended beyond legal practice to address national security, governance, and asset protection.