Stakeholders in the Education sector have decried the lack of investments in basic education by state governments.
The stakeholders said only a few governors allocated substantial funds to education as many others diverted funds meant for the sector to private use.
They argued that a good number of states do not appear enthusiastic about funding basic education, stressing the need for governments to declare an emergency on school infrastructure.
The stakeholders spoke at a National Education Summit organised by Human Development Initiatives (HDI) – a non-governmental organisation – with the theme: Building Qualitative, Inclusive and Adaptive Education System: Meeting Modern Day Education Challenges in Nigeria, in Abuja.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, said the absence of policy consistency, poor funding and inadequate basic facilities were major challenges in the sector.
The lawmaker expressed concern over state governments’ refusal to access their matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), saying many of them that had collected counterpart funding for education do not use it judiciously.
“There is a problem of absence of policy consistency. Even, when we have good policies, there is the very limited follow-up; at times, poor funding of those programmes, so that they would have deep roots and consistency and replication within the system. There is a weak administrative system in our schools.”