By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
Kebbi State Governor, Sen. Atiku Bagudu, has disclosed why Nigeria was not adequately funding education.
According to him, it was not deliberate that Nigeria, among the developing countries of the world, was not putting enough money in the education sector, but because there is paucity of funds.
Bagudu made the disclosure in Birnin Kebbi, while receiving Prof. Abubakar Abdullahi Bagudo, a consultant appointed by the Federal Government, to oversee the implementation of Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) program in the state.
“Nigeria, among developing countries, is not putting enough money in the education sector, not because there is no commitment on the part of government, but because the resources is not just there,” he said.
In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media, Yahaya Sarki made available to Newsdiaryonline on Tuesday, the Governor said his administration was doing so much in the education sector, even with the limited financial resources.
Bagudu also expressed his intention to revolutionalise the sector beyond what the World Bank was doing in the state, in order to put things right within the limited resources.
He said since his assumption of office in 2015, the state government commits between N25 to N28 billion annually on education, which according to him, was not adequate.
The governor called for the understanding of stakeholders, especially the international development partners, while emphasising that “lack of adequate resource hampers government’s efforts in funding education.”
He called on the development partners to support the efforts of government by filling the gap or shortfall in financial resources.
Earlier, Prof. Bagudo said, he was appointed as a consultant by the Federal government to supervise the implementation of BESDA program in the state.
According to him, BESDA was a 5-year program, being implemented in 17 states by the World Bank, including Kebbi, with the primary aim of reducing the number of out-of-school children, as well as improve girl child and nomads education.
He enumerated some of the achievements so far recorded by the program in Kebbi state and solicited for the full support of the state government towards the success of the program.
Bagudo was accompanied on the courtesy visit by the Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Muhammadu Magawata Aliero; Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Basic and Secondary Education, Hajiya Rafaatu Hammani and BESDA team led by Malan Hassan Umar, who is the desk officer of the program in Kebbi state.
