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Tag: Education

  • Over N600bn allocated to education in 2018 – Osinbajo

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says over N600 billion has s far been allocated to the education sector in 2018.

    Osinbajo disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a two-day Stakeholders’ Workshop on Sustainable Funding for Education in Nigeria held on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa Banquet Hall, Abuja.

    The workshop was organised by Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Finance.

    He said that in spite of the difficult economic situation when the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration came on board, the Federal Government made sure that funding of education was not neglected.

    “We were able to increase capital allocation to education; for instance, in the Federal Budget, capital allocation was increased from N23.53 billion in 2015 when we came–that was the allocation.

    “In the budget that we did, we took up the capital allocation to N35.99 billion in 2016.

    “Then in 2017, we took it to up to N56. 81bn and this year, the current capital budget on education is N102.9 billion.

    “So, this shows substantial increase in education budget; in addition, there is the UBEC funding which in 2018 amounted to N109.86 billion.

    “In fact, if you include the recurrent budget, the amount allocated to education by the Federal Government this year is more than N600 billion.’’

    Represented by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udo Udoma, Osinbajo said that additional funds were also made available through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

    He said, however, that the amounts were still insufficient to provide the high quality education which the administration was determined to give to all Nigerians; hence the importance of the stakeholders workshop.

    Osinbajo said that stakeholders must seek ways of increasing funding to education from all the tiers of government–the Federal Government, State and Local Governments.

    “ While government funding is important and critical, it is not the only source of funding for education.

    “There are two broad sources of funding for education-the most important are the grants from governments at all levels; that is the Federal and State and Local Governments in the form of capital budgets, recurrent budget and special allocation.

    “The second source of funding are from non-governmental sources—these include contributions from sources such as school charges, private donations, corporate sponsors, alumni associations, charitable and faith-based associations and among others,’’ he said.

    He said the workshop was expected to come with innovative ways by which increased funding of education could be achieved from all possible sources including any additional sources they could identify outside the aforementioned.

    On his part, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, said that funding education was a very crucial issue; hence the importance attached to the workshop.

    According to him, funding is key to the delivery of qualitative education which is the foundation for national growth and sustainable development.

    He said that upon his appointment, he met a lot of challenges in the basic, secondary and tertiary education as well as teachers’ professional development, technical education, access and quality of education.

    Adamu said that against the foregoing, the ministry proposed the Ministerial Strategic Plan for Education hinged on ten pillars.

    He listed the pillars as -Out of School Children, Youth and Adult Literacy, Teacher Education, Basic Education, Curriculum Matters, Tertiary Education, Education Data and planning.

    Others are- Technical and Vocation Education and Training, Information and Communication Technology in Education and Library Services.

    He said that increased funding of education had facilitated access to tertiary education in Nigeria but posed a huge financial burden on the funding of public institutions.

    Adamu urged Nigerians to disabuse their minds of the belief that funding education was the responsibility of the government as it involved individuals, agencies, developmental partners and government at all levels.

    NAN

  • Delta Assembly directs state tertiary institutions to submit 2017, 2018 financial records

    The Delta House of Assembly Committee on Education has directed all the state-owned tertiary institutions to furnish it with their records of incomes and expenditures for 2017 and 2018 financial years.

    The Chairman, House Committee on Education, Ms Angela Nwaka, gave the directive during the 2019 budget defence meeting with the heads of the state-owned tertiary institutions on Thursday in Asaba.

    Nwaka said though tertiary institutions had the power to generate revenue and spend, there was need for them to be transparent in line with the laid down procedures.

    ‘’Education is a key sector in any nation.

    “As such, there is every need to strengthen it in order for them to live up to expectation in churning out qualified manpower for the nation’s developmental needs,’’ she said.

    Nwaka added that the committee was determined to do its best in assisting the state Ministry of Higher Education and other tertiary institutions in the state to achieve their set goals.

    Earlier, the state Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr Jude Sinebe, noted that tertiary institutions usually submitted their monthly incomes and expenditures reports to the state Ministry of Finance.

    On achievements recorded in 2018, Sinebe said, “some courses were accredited in the Delta State University, the three polytechnics and colleges of education in the state during the year.

    “The state government also embarked on some projects in Abraka and Asaba campuses of DELSU,” he said.

    Sinebe, however, appealed to the committee to appropriate more funds to the ministry to enable it to meet up with its obligations.

    He also commended Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa for embarking on various projects in the state, especially in DELSU.

     

  • 2019: Sanusi spits fire, says 'Nigerians must stop electing leaders with no basic education'

    2019: Sanusi spits fire, says 'Nigerians must stop electing leaders with no basic education'

    The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Saturday advised Nigerians to stop electing leaders without education into public offices.
     
    He said Nigerians in the past had elected or chosen to elect leaders who had no education and thus could not give an education when they were elected.
     
    The former Central Bank of Nigeria governor spoke at the 6th convocation ceremony of Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, where he was conferred an Honorary Degree of Science along side the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III.
     
    He said: “We have to take an interest in the quality of our leaders and representatives in the level of education. If you look around this country at many levels of leadership, we have elected and we have chosen to elect people who do not have an education. And because they are not educated, they cannot give an education.
     
    “We need to lay more emphasis on the quality of people we elect to executive and legislative offices and we need to make sure that those to whom we entrust policy are themselves educated and know the value of education.”
     
    The Emir also advised the Federal Government to invest the trillions of naira it was spending on subsidising petroleum products on educating the young ones in the country.
     
    According to him, the money spent on building roads, bridges and trains should first be used to educating the young ones, noting that development was first and foremost about people.
     
    Sanusi said: “Let us invest more in education and let us give up some of the privileges that we have such as the trillions we are spending subsiding petroleum products. That money should go into educating our young people.
     
    “We are spending too much monies on roads and bridges and trains and too little money educating our children. Let us educate these young people and they will build the roads, train and bridges. We do not need to invite the Chinese to do that for us. And until the leadership at all levels in this country and the followership understand that this is what is most important, because I do understand sometimes that if a governor does not build roads or bridges, he is seen as not have been performed by the people.
     
    Read Also: Sultan, Sanusi, Ooni, others: embrace peace
    “We build all these highways and there are more pedestrians on the highways than cars and those pedestrians are most often people without education and help. Development is first and foremost about people.”
     
    He also blamed northern leaders for failing to provide the enabling environment for children in north to attend schools.
     
    Earlier in his remarks, Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Huseyin Sert, said 21 students were awarded First Class degree out of the 365 graduands.
     
    He said: “In this 2017/2018 session, we are glad to celebrate our 6th convocation ceremony with a total number of 365 graduands made up of 21 first class honours, 67 Second Class Upper, 96 Second Class Lower and two Third Class.
     
    “Indeed, the turnover of graduands from the university has justified our vision and mission statement of producing quality graduates who shall be full of knowledge, skills and experience to contribute to technological and economic development nationally and internationally.
     
    “The university expresses its gratitude to all those that contributed to the success of this occasion which enabled us to actualise our dream of being one of the best tertiary institutions in the world. We particularly felicitate with both graduating students and their parents for their high sense of duty and commitment in making their stay in the university a fruitful one.”
     
    Also, the Alaafin of Oyo commended the institution for the award, saying that it will spur him to do more for society.

  • FG to employ only qualified teachers — Minister

    Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has said that a database of qualified unemployed teachers is being gathered nationwide to ensure such people are employed into the teaching profession.
    ‎
    Adamu disclosed this while monitoring the 2018 Batch B Teacher Professional Qualifying Examination in Abuja on Saturday.‎
    ‎
    ‎The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the no fewer than 17,000 would-be-teachers are expected to sit for the Computer-Based Teachers PQE nationwide scheduled to hold between October 19 and October 20.
    ‎
    Adamu, represented by Mr Sonny Echono, the Permanent Secretary, ‎reiterated that by December 2019 any teacher not qualified, registered and licensed with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria would be flushed out of the classrooms.
    “‎We have decided at the level of policy, henceforth, after December 2019, anybody that is not a qualified, registered and licensed teacher would not be accepted in the classroom. ‎
    ‎
    ‎”Let your colleagues know there will be no extension by 2019 because we are compiling a database of qualified teachers, ‎who are not employed.
    “It makes no sense for us as a country to have people, who are qualified out of job and we have unqualified people in those jobs.
    “We want to make sure that anybody who has this certification has a job, so we are going to ensure that is done first.”
    NAN

  • BREAKING: World Bank admits misleading Nigeria to ignore education, health sectors

    The World Bank says it “has to take some responsibility’’ for advising Nigeria and other African countries to invest more in roads, railways and energy rather than in education and health.
    The World Bank President, Mr. Jim Yong Kim, made this known while briefing the media after the launch of the 2018 Human Capital Index, which ranked Nigeria 152nd out of 157 countries believed to be committed to investing in human capital.
    Kim briefed the media on Thursday at the ongoing International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Annual Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
    “We provide quite a bit of support for Nigeria in terms of health budget. But we feel that the overall spending on health is just far too low, 0.76 per cent of GDP.
    “Also, the educational outcomes in Nigeria are very very poor.
    “Nigeria is one of the most important countries not only in Africa, but in the world and so we feel that it will be extremely important for Nigeria to really go on a different level altogether in terms of their commitment to investing in human capital.
    “I think that the World Bank has to take some responsibility for having emphasised hard on infrastructure, roads, rails, energy for a very long time and I think that changed 20 years ago.
    “But there is still then the bias that says we will invest in hard infrastructure and then when we grow rich, we will have enough money to invest in health and education.
    “We are now saying that that’s really the wrong approach, that you’ve got to start investing in your people right now.’’
    HCI seeks to raise awareness and increase demand for interventions to build human capital and accelerate better and more investments in people.
    Kim said that through the International Development Association, the World Bank had, since 2015 increased funding for Nigeria and other African countries towards alleviating poverty.
    The message here is that Heads of State and Ministers of Finance have to take responsibility.
    “What has happened is in many African countries, if they don’t receive grant-based financing, they just simply don’t spend on health and education.
    “So we hope that this is a loud wake-up call for leaders throughout the African continent and especially in Nigeria.”
    According to the human capital index, children born in Nigeria stand the chance of being 34 per cent as productive when they grow up as they will be if they enjoy complete education and full health.
    Children in Nigeria can expect to complete 8.2 years of pre- primary, primary and secondary school by age 18.
    However, when years of schooling are adjusted for quality of learning, this is only equivalent to 4.2 years, showing a learning gap of 4 years.
    The World Bank report on adult survival rate across Nigeria showed that only 65 per cent of 15-year-olds would survive until 60 years of age.
    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 2018 Annual Meetings of the IMF and WBG brings together experts to discuss issues of global concern, including the World Economic Outlook, poverty eradication, economic development and aid effectiveness.
     
     

  • UBEC to release N142.5bn to states

    The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) will be disbursing N142.58 billion to support educational development in all states of the country, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has said.
    Adamu made this known in Kaduna on Wednesday at the opening of a two-day Northern Nigeria Traditional Leaders Conference on Out-of-School Children.
    The conference was organised by Federal Ministry of Education, Universal Basic Education Commission, National Commission for Mass Education and Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development in collaboration with UNICEF.
    He also said that the World Bank had between 2016 and now issued 611 million dollars credit facility to support states with higher number of out-of-school children in the country.
    “The Federal Government had equally deducted N71.292 billion from Paris Club Refund, as outstanding UBEC counterpart Fund owed by states as at August 2018.
    “Such financial support to state through UBEC and Tertiary Education Trust Fund and other initiatives would be sustained,” he said.
    Adamu called on all relevant stakeholders to join hands in tackling the root causes of out-of-school children in the country.
    “We must provide our children with the needed knowledge and skills to realise their potentials and contribute to the development of our dear nation,” he added.
    The minister thanked the northern traditional leaders and relevant stakeholders for coming together to express collective commitment to addressing the phenomenon of out-of-school children in the country.
    in his message, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, also expressed concern on the increasing number of out-of-school children in the northern part of the country.
    According to him, a collective commitment of all stakeholders will go a long way in turning the disturbing educational indices in the north and the country at large.
    El-Rufai, who was represented by Prof. Kabiru Mato, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, said that his administration is working to address the situation in the state.
    Earlier, Prof. Salisu Shehu, Deputy Secretary General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs called for adequate funding to the education sector, and more sensitisation of parents and care givers to send their children to school.
    Similarly, Dr. Aishatu Dukku, Chairperson, House of Representatives Committee on Electoral and Political Party Matters, noted that much needs to be done given the state of education in Northern Nigeria.
    Dukku, a former education minister, pointed out that engaging traditional leaders was key to encouraging people to embrace Islamic and western education in the region.
    NAN

  • Poor education funding: NUT gives Edo Govt. 21-days deadline

    Poor education funding: NUT gives Edo Govt. 21-days deadline

    The Edo State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the State Government to provide adequate funding for education.

    The ultimatum is contained in a nine-point communiqué, issued in Benin on Sunday.

    The document was signed by the Chairman of the NUT in the state, Mr Pius Okhueleigbe, and the Acting Secretary, Mr Mike Itua.

    The association warned that the government would face dire consequences if it failed to meet the demands of the body before the expiration of the ultimatum.

    The union demanded immediate release of funds to cater for primary and secondary schools in the state, lamenting that teachers in public schools had been using their salaries to provide instructional materials.

    The union also demanded immediate implementation of the 2013 to 2015 primary school teachers’ promotions as approved by the government and payment of outstanding salary arrears to teachers.

    The body, similarly, sought the implementation of the N25, 000 minimum wage to all primary school teachers with the arrears.

    According to them, no dime has been paid to anyone since 2016 when the State Government approved the minimum wage.

    The union said the ultimatum became necessary, following the expiration of 45 days grace period it gave the government to mutually resolve issues at its meeting with the union last July.

    The union decried what it described as a lack of manpower in public schools in the state, advising the government to commence immediate recruitment of about 9,000 teachers to meet the gap.

     

  • Startup focus: Transforming education with a web-based portal in Nigeria

    Startup focus: Transforming education with a web-based portal in Nigeria

    At the Seedstars Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this year, Edves, a Nigerian startup won the Transforming Education prize worth USD 50,000.

    According to two prize-winning Nigerian entrepreneurs, the keys to successful social enterprise include focusing on a problem, empathy for people who have that problem, and iteration for a high-quality product.

    Dimeji Falana and Dare Adebayo graduated from the same computer science programme at University in Nigeria in 2010. Soon afterwards, they started a business as software developers, winning big clients such as banks and the Nigerian government.

    But they always knew their computer programming skills could be used to serve causes closer to their hearts.

    Focusing on a problem

    Indeed, when they were still at university, one of their friends was experiencing difficulties running a school that was seeing increasing rates of enrolment but deteriorating quality of schooling.

    So Falana and Adebayo developed a programme to help speed up teachers’ administrative processes and tasks, allowing them to focus on improving their teaching and classroom practice.

    Fast-forward to 2018, and their solution has caught on. They are now serving the needs of 300 schools in 14 states in Nigeria, and plan to expand to other African markets, where they hope to help address a wider issue, as African schools are seeing expanding rates of enrolment but the quality of education is suffering, partly due to a shortage of trained and motivated teachers.

    A successful product

    Initially this work was just a side business, but in 2016 Falana and Adebayo were already working with 66 schools. “I was like: ‘This is making sense!’” said Dimeji Falana. “So we incorporated and launched it officially in 2016. And within that time we’ve been able to grow.”

    “We’ve been cash-flow positive since the inception.” — Dimeji Falana.

    According to its website, Edves is an easy and secure web-based portal that encompasses all school management needs. It assists schools to track growth and to manage admissions, payments, report cards, homework, and parent-teacher communication. It serves the needs of teachers, parents, students and school administrators.

    “It takes on average 2 weeks for teachers to prepare end-of-the-term student reports for 200 students with pen and paper. But with Edves, it takes them just 2 days,” explained Falana.

    Edves also offers teacher training. “These are training sessions to allow the teachers to use the platform so they can delve deeper into what they need to do to provide quality education… curriculum training, tech training — so many things we train teachers in!” exclaimed Abedayo.

    “It is important to keep iterating the products or the service and your processes.” –Dare Adebayo

    “We’ve been cash-flow positive since the inception,” says Dimeji Falana. “People buy it and we use the money to run the business…. We have been profitable for a long time, but we want to raise the funds so that we can quickly do more and then expand outside of Nigeria”. Edves has won grants from DFID, USAID, the World Bank, the British Council, and Seedstars.

    Lessons for entrepreneurs

    What is their advice to entrepreneurs?

    “My advice would be to make sure they are sincere with the problem they are solving, and that they have empathy for the people that have the problem. Empathy will be the driver. When they run into problems, this will come back to their minds to say, this is what essentially we will need to solve so that these people can get out of this mess,” said Falana.

    Dare Adebayo emphasized that understanding users’ needs will also help drive the development of better processes and a better product. “It is important to keep iterating the products or the service and your processes. If you don’t change your process, it means you will keep on getting the same result. But if you keep optimizing your processes, you will keep getting better results.”

    Said Falana: “It is important to add the intention to the process. So, this is the problem we want to solve, and we are doing everything to solve it.”

    Dimeji Falana and Dare Adebayo co-founded their first business serving the needs of schools in 2010 with no money. They both trust in the promise of a better future and are committed to making it happen. Their plan today is to expand to 1,000 schools in the next year, and to serve 5,000 schools in Nigeria and other African countries by the end of 2019.

     

  • Health care: Edo, NYSC strengthen ties

    The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said the state government would strengthen existing partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the state to drive his administration’s reforms in education and health sectors to benefit people living in rural areas of the state.

    Obaseki disclosed this when he received the new state Coordinator of the NYSC in the state, Mr. Adebayo Ojo, at the Government House, in Benin City, on Monday.

    He said the state government will work together with the NYSC as partners to deliver more value in terms of education and healthcare to people residing in the rural areas.

    He noted, “My administration is committed to supporting you. We will include you in our plans to ensure that our people feel your impact. We understand you have some challenges, and we have you in mind.

    “I want to assure you that officials posted to the state are not strangers in our land; We will treat you as one of us as we see you as part of us. The services of corps members who serve as teachers and doctors posted to rural areas will greatly help our people,” he said.

    Obaseki explained that his administration intends to make unemployment history in the state, noting that the state government would need the support of the NYSC for the government to achieve her plans.

    Earlier, Mr. Ojo said that a total of 6,653 corps members are currently serving in the state, including 3,144 males and 3,509 females. He added that 55 of the corps members are medical doctors, 33 of them are pharmacists and 81, lawyers.

    Ojo noted that in support of governor Obaseki’s policy on revamping the education sector, about 90 percent of the corps members in the state are posted to secondary schools across the state as their Places of Primary Assignment (PPA).

     

  • Again, hoodlums attack Rivers state varsity; VC cries out for help

    Again, hoodlums attack Rivers state varsity; VC cries out for help

    Vice Chancellor (VC) of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), Professor Ozo-Mekuri Ndimele, has called on security agencies to prevail in finding lasting solution to incessant attacks on students and staff of the Rivers state-owned institution.

    TheNewsGuru reports Ndimele made the call on Monday following series of attacks on the institution, which the VC revealed that following Saturday’s attack on the school, the hoodlums stroke again.

    “Community hoodlums last night again invaded the Ndele Campus of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and attempted to kidnap one of our lecturers. He was severely jostled and about to be whisked away when security operatives on campus intervened to rescue him,” the VC said.

    Ndimele narrated that this year alone, Dr. Kalio, an Associate Professor with the Department of Agricultural Science, and three female students were separately kidnapped from the Ndele Campus.

    He said, “In 2016, armed robbers also invaded the Ndele campus and killed a member of staff and in separate operations kidnapped some members of staff and secondary school children of our NDSS. The community leaders from Ndele are aware of these ungodly incidences”.

    He went further to say, “We spent huge sums of money to clear the forest in front of the campus which was the den of hoodlums and converted the area into a huge vegetable farm. The new strategy is to pull down the walls behind the campus through which they invade us at will. We spend money on regular basis to fix the fences as they pull them down.

    “Where it hurts most is that we are in the process of creating new programmes to be hosted at the Ndele Campus. As a University of Education, we are discussing with NUC and NCCE to run dual mode, so that we can bring back the NCE programme which was suspended when we became a fully-fledged university.

    “Our proposal is to also domicile the NCE programmes at Ndele to maximize the space and to increase students’ population there. But the fear to pull through these lofty ideas is the security challenges at Ndele”.

    TheNewsGuru reports on Saturday night, the hoodlums had stormed and attacked students at the Rivers state-owned university.

    Professor Ndimele lamented that Saturday’s incident was the third time in two months hoodlums from the community would attack the school, before the Sunday’s incident.

    “Last night, some hoodlums from Ndele community stormed our students’ hostels on campus for the third time in two months to attack students.

    “Due to insecurity, the majority of our students left the Ndele community and entered the hostels. Let me also mention that because of the attack on students who lived outside the school, the University management throw open the hostels for free accommodation so that all students would be residential at the Ndele Campus.

    “What now is our offence that they visit the hostels at will with dangerous weapons to attack and force our students to sleep in bushes?

    “It is unbecoming of a gang of community boys from Ndele to frustrate a most civilizing facility as a university which most communities are praying to be sited at their place.

    “In addition to the University security men, we have engaged armed policemen who patrol the campus.

    “But our worry is that these hoodlums from Ndele have no regard for the presence of armed policemen around the campus.

    “They are rather tempting the armed policemen to confront them in what might result in a deadly clash,” the Vice-Chancellor stated.

    Ndimele appealed to the chiefs and elders of Ndele, the Federal and Rivers state governments for a lasting solution to the incessant attacks.

    He also appealed to staff and students to be law-abiding, while assuring that if the attacks persist, the university management might be forced to relocate the IAUE campus from Ndele community.

    “Let the world hear us again; the sanctity of an Ivory Tower is being violated with impunity. Let the hoodlums from the Ndele community be told in clear terms that our patience is being over-stretched,” he said.