FG inaugurates committee on sustainable funding for education

By Doorsum Iwambe, Abuja

The federal government has inaugurated a committee charged with the responsibility to harmonise, develop and work out a framework for sustainable funding of education in Nigeria.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, who inaugurated the committee in Abuja, charged members to interface with the relevant stakeholders to collate their views and submit the report for President Muhammadu Buhari’s consideration.

In a statement released on Friday, Echono said the challenge before the committee was to devise a new source of mobilising the resources needed to adequately fund and transform the sector.

According to the permanent secretary, President Buhari is keen on addressing the challenges in the education sector, declaring that “the President accords top priority to this assignment to ensure that we provide the right framework for intervention in the education sector.

“Prior to this formal inauguration, I had the privilege of meeting with the Vice President as well as the Senate President to discuss the core priorities in the education sector.

“So, it is a special privilege to welcome the members of this committee. The federal government alone cannot fund education adequately and we need to look at other sources.’’

Echono listed the committee’s terms of reference to include the provision of effective strategies towards ensuring that adequate resources were made available to fund quality education at all levels.

The committee is also expected to review, harmonise and develop an implementation framework on the proposal produced in 2018 during a stakeholders’ workshop on the subject matter.
He said that the committee has up until August 15 to submit its report.

Members of the committee, include Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, executive secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Prof. Abubakar Adamu, executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC).

Others are Prof. Ismail Junaidu, executive secretary Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council and Dr. Hammid Bobboyi, executive secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, the legal unit, office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

It would be recalled that the Federal Ministry of Education and Finance in November 2018 organised a two-day stakeholders’ workshop with the theme: “Sustainable funding for education in Nigeria.’’

The workshop was aimed at addressing the funding challenges at all levels in the sector with a view to repositioning education in the country.

Among the recommendations at the end of the workshop was achieving education funding through multi-stakeholder contributions, including government, parents, organised and non-formal private sectors.