ABUJA – The Federal of Government on Monday said it spent N1.3 trillion in the development and rehabilitation of infrastructure in public universities in the last four years.
The Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, disclosed this at the public presentation of “Consolidating the Transformation in the Education Sector: A Strategy’’ in Abuja.
According to the minister, similar intervention will be provided to polytechnics and colleges of education as soon as the analyses of their needs’ assessment are over.
He said “the needs assessment of public tertiary institutions enabled us to identify challenges the institutions are facing in relation to the ability to serve the interests of the society.
“As a result, we committed N1.3 trillion to the development and rehabilitation of infrastructure in our public universities in the last four years.
“In the same vein, similar assessments have been carried out in polytechnics and colleges of education, and similar intervention will be provided as soon as the analyses of the findings are completed.’’
The minister said that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) interventions to tertiary institutions had been on the rise.
Shekarau said that each public university got N912 million in 2014 as against N303 million in 2010, while each polytechnic received N661 million in 2014 as against N180 million in 2010.
According to him, allocations to colleges of education have also gone up from N57 million in 2010 to N581 million in 2014.
He said the public presentation was an opportunity to unveil to education stakeholders’ community, the priorities in consolidating the transformation in the sector.
He added that “in implementing our priorities, some of the key areas for attention will include: monitoring and assessment of ongoing projects to ensure that they are being executed to set standard.
“Other priorities include commitment to the safety of our children in schools as a result of the security challenges we are facing in some parts of the country and providing facilities for our children to continue their education where the institutions may have been affected.
“We also want to ensure industrial harmony in our institutions, as we have resolved to continue talking with union leaders and have agreed to jointly address the problems.
“Also on the priority list is addressing the challenge of quality of teachers in our school system by identifying ways of attracting the best brains into the profession.’’
The education minister said that a national teachers’ summit would be convened in January to holistically look into the problems confronting the profession and proffer ways forward.
On her part, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, the Minister of State for Education, urged Nigerians from all walks of life to support the government in the implementation of programmes in the education sector.
According to her, education is the only sector that every member of the population has a stake.
She said “no matter our cultural or political leanings, the growth we seek is dependent on the success of our education system.
“We should, therefore, ensure that we play our individual roles which collectively will lead to growth.’’
In his contributions, Hon. Aminu Suleiman, the Chairman, House Committee on Education, stressed the need for stakeholders in the education sector to engage unions periodically to ensure stability in institutions.
Suleiman said the committee would offer its support and synergy with a view to moving the education sector forward. (NAN)
FG commits N1.3trn to infrastructure development in public varsities
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