An NGO, ActionAid Nigeria, has commended the Federal Government for its commitment to increase the budget of the education sector.
In a statement, signed by its Country Director, Ene Obi, and made available to News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Abuja, the NGO noted the commitment to increase education spending by up by 50%, over the next two years, and 100% by 2025.
” The objective of the commitment is to reach the global benchmark of 20% public allocation and expenditure to education”, Obi noted.
She urged the Federal Government to back up its commitment, by addressing the numerous challenges confronting the education sector.
” Nigeria is a signatory to many international instruments, on the delivery of quality education, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
” To, therefore, attain these goals, it would be critical to not only increase the funding for education, but also ensure that it is targeted at projects and programmes that are aimed at addressing the out-of-school phenomenon, especially for girls and other marginalized children, plagued by insecurity and the recent pandemic.
” This will help improve learning outcomes and increase the nation’s stock of human capital that can be transformed into job creation. ’’ she said.
NAN reports that the FG’s commitment in the education sector was made at the recently concluded Global Education Summit in London, which was co-hosted by UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
She said the Federal Government’s stated commitment was key to the transformation of other sectors, and called on other arms of government to ensure that necessary steps were taken to actualize the commitment.
” We expect to see a directive to all relevant government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to prioritize and commence the process of incremental budgeting to actualize the commitment,’’ she said.
Obi also called for quality provision of gender responsive public service facilities in all schools, adding that this would help place the country on the path to sustainable education for all. . (NAN)
