BY FELIX KASSIM
The Federal Government has restated its readiness to always partner with national and international development partners to ensure better funding of the nation’s education sector.
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja during an interactive meeting with national and international development partners.
Adamu, who said the present administration is committed to achieve the desired education development in the country, however, lamented paucity of funds in achieving the desired goals.
His words “The present administration is committed to raise individuals who are morally and academically sound, skilled and globally relevant. We are committed to this goal, but the resources to achieve this mandate is not at par with the demands for education.
“Budgetary allocation at the federal and state levels has been inadequate and poses a serious challenge in the running of all levels of education system. This has affected the efficient and effective delivery of the core mandate of the sector.”
He said the desired development in the education sector can only be achieved through strong partnership with development partners, as government will not be able to do it alone.
On his part, the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, called on development partners to have a united front to avoid the duplication of projects in the sector.
Nwajiuba, who said the interactive meeting was one of the outcomes of the just concluded 2-day retreat organised by the ministry, said a common front in addressing identified problems would ensure the successful implementation of the harmonised education sector blue print/ work-plan.
He said that the state of education in the country is of great concern to the present Administration, reiterating its commitment to ‘building a sector that will prepare Nigerians for the modern day knowledge-based economy.’
Nwajiuba, who solicited for more intervention, synergy and partnership, stressed the commitment of government to ensuring that the resources for more robust education delivery in the country are maximally utilised.
In a remark, Mr Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, commended the sector’s development partners on the commitment to ensuring better service delivery.
He said that the challenges of the sector were daunting, hence, the need for more unified strategies to surmount them, lamenting that despite the huge resources invested in the sector, a lot still needs to be done.
