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By Nasir Kura
Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo said on Tuesday that education is critical for the development of any nation and must be given the needed attention at all times.
Osinbajo said this at the opening session of a of two-day workshop on sustainable funding of the country’s education sector.
Represented by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, Osinbajo said government must give priority to funding of education and how to deliver quality education to its citizens.
“Education is very important. It is critical to the development of any nation. Therefore, all governments must give priority to how best to achieve quality education,” he said.
He said adequate funding and strategic planning are knitted and the two must be pursued together, stressing that the present administration maintains increased funding for the education sector.
“We have consistently supported the education sector by raising its budget every year since we came on board. For instance in the first budget that we did, we took up the capital allocation for education to N35.99 billion in 2016. Then in 2017 we took it up to N56.81 billion and this year 2018, the current capital budget for education is N102.9 billion,” he said.
The Vice President urged participants to come up with innovative ways by which increased funding of education can be achieved in Nigeria.
In his remarks, Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, said there was the need for adequate funding and planning in the quest to move the education sector forward, adding that sustaining the sector is a responsibility of all.
He said teacher training equally needs attention in order to make the profession more attractive and enhance the quality of education at all levels.
“The main problem actually is, if a teacher doesn’t get a very good pre-service training, he is not likely to offer anything useful to his pupils or students. Education is a responsibility of all and I call on the State and Local Governments, our agencies, parastatals and indeed all Nigerians to join hands, so that we will be able to raise the funds needed to fund education,” he said.
