A university teacher, Dr. Billy Olajide, of the Department of English Education, University of Ilorin, has predicted that Nigeria's education sector faces a bleak future if the incursion of technology devices into the system is not urgently checked.

Olajide lamented that the development has drastically reduced the interest of students in learning, and has breaded cultism, indecent dressing and loss of cultural values.

Speaking at the grand finale of the 2012 edition of the Great Kwara Spelling Bee competition organised for secondary schools in Ilorin by the Ministry of Education Science and Technology in conjunction with the LEAH Charity Foundation, a pet project of the wife of the governor, Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed.

He said in the last 10 years students had not performed well in key subjects, especially, English Language and Mathematics at the Senior Secondary Schools (SSCE) examinations, stressing that "if this trend continues, there will be bleaker Nigeria."

According to him, students' exposure to technology devices was also responsible for violence, poor performances.

Olajide called for increased subvention to the education sector, proper monitoring of schools and reward for teachers for excellent work.

In her speech, Coordinator of the competition and chairperson, Women and Child Watch Initiatives (WOCWI), Barrister Biola Adimula, advised schools in the state to domesticate the competition by periodically organising own in-house competition to improve their chances at winning at larger gatherings.

In his remarks, chairman of the state Parent Teachers' Association (PTA), Alhaji Ibrahim Oniye, admonished students to shun cultism, bad gangs and face their education squarely.