Stakeholders in education sector have declared that the N2.18 trillion voted for education falls short of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recommendation of between 15% and 20% of the expenditure to be spent on education, Assistant Editor Bola Olajuwon writes.
When President Bola Tinubu presented his administration’s first budget to the National Assembly recently, he declared that he is planning to spend N6.75 trillion of its projected N27.5 trillion budget on defence and security, education and infrastructure in 2024.
But, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, at during the presentation of the 2024 budget breakdown later, he said of the amount, N1.23 trillion is for the Federal Ministry of Education and its agencies, N251.47 billion for the Universal Basic, Education Commission and N700 billion as transfers to tertiary education trust fund.
The government also earmarked N2.18 trillion for the education sector. This represents 7.9 per cent of the budget proposal. Bagudu stated that N50 billion of the amount would be for the student loan scheme of the Federal Government.
Lawmakers praise budget
National Assembly members across the party lines praised the president’s budget. Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo South), said, “We have a budget of N9.7tn current expenditure and N8.7tn capital expenditure.” Also, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Solomon Adeola, (APC, Ogunjobi West) stated that the budget would benefit the country. Chairman of Senate Committee on Public Account, Aliya Wadada (SDP, Nasarawa South) said: “It is obvious the President’s agenda is a people-oriented budget.”
Education ministers commend Tinubu over budget
Education Minister Prof. Tahir Mamman and the Minister of State for Education Dr. Yusuf Sununu praised President Tinubu over the budget proposal for the education sector, describing the development as a significant improvement over the last couple of years.
According to the two ministers, this underscores the premium President attaches to the education sector.
The minister spoke at the start of a two-day retreat for education stakeholders in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. They promised to justify the confidence reposed in them by the President through the faithful implementation of the education roadmap and the renewed hope agenda of Mr. President.
Prof. Mamman noted that with the Presidency and the National Assembly being on the same page in their resolve to confront the challenges facing the country, this administration is unstoppable.
Acknowledging the efforts of previous administrations in the development of the education sector, Prof. Mamman noted that a lot still has to be done in the areas of infrastructural development, teacher quality, security of our institutions, as well as access to quality education especially for the vulnerable groups.
‘Budget short of UNESCO recommendation’
However, stakeholders in education and others have declared that the figure falls short of the UNESCO recommendation of between 15% and 20% of the expenditure of developing countries to be spent on education.
Experts said with a $480.5 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at 2021, Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa and 29th in the world, according to the IMF. But, surprisingly, the country’s rather large economy is running on the back of poor funding of its education sector.
For instance, the education sector received a total of N771. 5 billion in 2021 out of a total budget size of N13.58 trillion. This was 5.68 percent allocation. In the year 2020, education sector received the sum of N671.07 billion, or 6.7 per cent out of N10. 33 trillion budget while in the year 2019, the sum of N620 billion or 7.05 per cent was allocated to education out of N8.92 trillion budget.
However, late in 2021, Heads of State and Government and Ministers of Education from more than 40 countries adopted the Paris Declaration: a global appeal initiated by UNESCO and France to increase investment in education in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.
At the height of the pandemic, 1.6 billion children and adolescents were deprived of tuition in the classroom. Among them, 500 million students, mainly in the South, had no access to distance learning. UNESCO quickly rallied by bringing together states, international organisations and businesses within a Global Coalition for Education, which made it possible to ensure educational continuity in 112 countries.
Despite this unprecedented mobilisation, the situation remains worrying. According to UNESCO’s latest count, schools are still totally or partially closed in 65 countries, affecting 750 million students.
Since 2015, UNESCO Member States agreed on a level of educational funding of 4 to 6% of GDP or 15 to 20% of public expenditure, but the majority of countries have not yet reached this threshold. Moreover, it appears that low-income countries only allocate 1% of the amount of the post COVID-19 stimulus packages to education, while the richest countries only spend 2.9% of that package on education.
President Bola Tinubu had promised to reform the tertiary education sector by introducing a sustainable funding model for the sector.
NESG picks holes in Tinubu’s 2024 budget
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group, while picking holes in the budget in its sectoral analysis of the budget, faulted the N3.5 trillion allocation to the health and education sectors. The Chairman of NESG, Niyi Yusuf, declared that health and education allocations were lower in the 2024 Appropriation Bill than their respective levels in the 2023 approved budget. He explained that the budget allocation to both sectors was far below the global benchmarks.
“The allocations to the health and education sectors are far below the global benchmarks of 15 per cent (2001 Abuja Declaration) and 15- 20 per cent (UNESCO standards), respectively,” he said.
ASUU condemns low education budget, threatens strike
The Academic Staff Union of Universities said universities across the country may witness strikes next year due to the budget allotted to the education sector and poor lecturers’ remuneration.
Its president, Prof. Emmanuel Oshodeke, explained that during the campaign and election earlier this year, President Tinubu promised to increase the education sector to at least 15 per cent or over.
He submitted that the UNESCO also recommended a 26 per cent benchmark allocation for the education sector for member states. He complained that Nigeria was the country with the least remuneration for professors globally.
Oshodeke said ASUU was disappointed when the budget was announced to be N2.18tr or 7.9 per cent of the budget. He added that not much progress would be made in the sector; if the budget was not increased. He advised the government to meet with the cabinet members and increase the budget to 15 or more. “With this seven per cent education budget, nothing will change in the sector, it is just as we had during Buhari’s time. Tinubu, during his campaign, promised to increase the education budget but nothing.
“However, there is still a chance for him, to change. But if no improvement on this and our other demands, by next year, we will mobilise our people and we can’t stay like this because Oyo State has 15 per cent and Enugu State budgeted 32 per cent for education, but FG is giving less than eight per cent,” the union leader said.
ASUP demands increase in education allocation
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) asked the Federal Government to increase the budget allocation for education in the appropriation bill.
Mr. Anderson Ezeibe, the ASUP President, stated this during at a news conference preceding the union’s 17th biennial national delegates conference in Abuja. He criticised the current 7.9% earmarked for education in the existing budget and highlighted that the proposed bill allocates 7.9% for the education sector.
“This implies that the country is further away from a solution to the underfunding in the sector. An upward review is imperative to reflect the actual needs of the sector. This will ensure the total withdrawal of the 2021 circular requesting institutions to make remittances of their internally generated funds.”
“Also, it will ensure the immediate implementation of the approved new wage structure of 35% and 25% for chief lecturers and other categories of staff in the sector with the arrears,” Ezeibe said.
CSO advises Fed Govt to increase education budget
Executive Director of the FlexiSAF, Amina Abubakar, also called on the government and the National Assembly to increase the budgetary allocation to the sector and implement its policy of free basic education for all.
She made the call after embarking on a walk tagged: “Walk for Education 3.0”, to draw attention of critical stakeholders on the need to improve education in the country.
According to her, despite the United Nations goal for education, Nigeria remains one of the country with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, adding that Nigeria still have more than 10 million children out there who can’t afford education.
Educationist appeals to govt
An educationist and former school principal, Sehinde Arogbofa, called on the governments at all levels to adopt the recommendation of the UNESCO on education for the betterment of the sector.
According to him, the UNESCO recommendation that 26 per cent of the national budget should be spent on education would do the education sector of the country a lot of good.
Arogbofa spoke at the inauguration of an administrative building and a block of science laboratories at Community Comprehensive High School, Ikaram-Akoko in Akoko North-West Local Government Area of Ondo State.
