ActionAid, Others Blame Rising Insecurity On Poor Funding Of Education
ActionAid, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education For All, (CSACEFA) among other civil society organisations have attributed the rising insecurity in the country to poor funding of the education sector.
They lamented government’s poor attitude that has put the education sector in a quagmire, leading to heightened insecurity that has caused monumental loss of lives and property, as the terrible situation engulfs the nation.
The Country Director of ActionAid, Ene Obi, during the one-day ‘National Dialogue on Education Financing’ with the theme: ‘More and Better Financing of Education In Nigeria’ said if the $3.3m lost to corporate income tax incentives yearly, and the $327m lost to import duty exemption are effectively collected by government, it is more than enough to put back to school the 10.2 million children currently out of school in Nigeria.
She lamented the lack of political will by government to adequately fund public education to meet the financing targets outlined in the SDG Framework, saying while other countries invest up to 4-6 per cent GDP and 15-20 per cent of their national budgets on education, Nigeria allocation to education over the last three years (2016 to 2019) have not exceeded 7.14 per cent.
“This is abysmally poor for a country with up to10.2m children out of school. Consequently, the private sector is taking the available space through private investment in the provision of education, thus heightening inequality and poverty,” she said.
She urged Nigerian government at all levels to urgently prioritise education funding.
The National Moderator, CSACEFA, Babatunde Omole advocated 50 per cent budgetary allocation to the sector, saying it would help provide Nigerians with quality education at all levels, as well as boost national development and curb brain-drain and insecurity.
Similarly, an Ohanaeze Ndigbo faction, yesterday, said insecurity in the Southeast would disappear completely, if governors in the zone addressed youth agitations.
In a statement in Abakaliki, the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Nazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the unknown gunmen causing panic and troubles are youths from the zone, who have genuine agitations, which should be looked into, if the zone wants to be safe and enjoy peace.
He urged Southeast Governors to liaise with Federal Government and look into the agitations by dialoguing with the youths, so that there will be a common ground to address the situation with imminent solution.
