Educational Sector Receives N138b In Nigeria
The Federal Government of Nigeria deposited the sum of N138 billion in the last three years to empower educational system in the Nigeria. The Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu,, said this during the launch of the (NPA) National Personnel Audit of basic educational institutions in Abuja on Monday. The (NAN) News Agency of Nigeria reports that the audit will cover all pupils, students and personnel in both public and private sector of basic educational institutions in Nigeria. Mallam Adamu said the funds, managed by the (UBEC) Universal Basic Education Commission, were accessed by states and the Federal Capital Territory that also paid their counterpart contributions. He explained that the personnel audit was in line with the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act 2004, “to help establish reliable education data for planning. ” It is very important to note that since its establishment in 1999, the commission has successfully conducted two national personnel audit in the country in 2006 and 2010 respectively focused only on public schools.” The minister said the audit would also establish strong foundation for sound management information system in the basic educational sector. He added it would empower the current (NEMIS) National Educational Management Information System which serves as a key pillar of the nations educational planning process. Earlier, the Executive Secretary,Dr Hamid Bobboyi Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) said lack of data was a major setback in the education sector. He however said that the audit would help to create a comprehensive and reliable basic educational data bank in Nigeria. He noted that the exercise had no connection with auditing financial accounts of schools. Dr Hamid Bobboyi listed some specific objectives of the personnel audit to include obtaining reliable data of children of school going age enrolled in basic education schools. Other objectives include obtaining the number and qualification of teaching and non-teaching staff including their personal information and progression in service. He said the exercise would also provide authentic school mapping of all basic education schools in the country as well as address the challenges of inadequate education data. The Minister of FCT, Mallam Muhammad Bello assured that the FCT administration would support the commission to ensure smooth conduct of the exercise. Similarly, Mr Halilu Ahmed of the (NASRDA) National Space Research and Development Agency, described the exercise as a quantum leap because of the use of digital technology where information on basic education could be accessed with a click of the button. He said that the database was designed to be updated on regular basis in such a way to accommodate newly established schools or new infrastructure. Also, Dr Mahmud Abubakar, Chairman, Governing Board of UBEC, said the role of NASRDA was important to the effective conduct of the exercise. He said that at the end of the exercise, a virile and responsive (GIS) Geographic Information System would be developed to help in planning, monitoring and evaluation of the sub sector. Mr Abdulahi Salifu, Regional Director, UNESCO, congratulated UBEC for taking the lead, saying that the audit would help ascertain the quality and quantity of teaching and non teaching staff. He added that it would also give more information on what needed to be done and improved upon in the system, and identify the number of out children in Nigeria who are not in school or not able to attend school because of some reasons.
I pray they don't eat the money and tell us stories
ReplyDelete