FG to increase education budget to 25%

The federal government has announced its readiness to allocate 25 percent of the national budget to the education sector in order to meet global standards, improve quality of learning, and retain the best hands in the system.

Mamman Tahir, the minister of education disclosed this on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 during a media briefing to reel out the ministry’s preparations for the 2023 World Teachers Day.

Besides, Tahir appealed to security agencies and the military to do more to protect schools, especially the ones in vulnerable areas to safeguard them.

President Tinubu had earlier during his campaign promised to revive the education sector at all levels to meet the emerging global best practices and socio-economic realities.

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Probably, this may be how he intends to kick-start the revival journey of one of the country’s most critical sectors that has been facing monumental neglect.

The highest budget allocation for education under President Muhammadu Buhari was in 2023 when he announced 10 percent of the total N20.5 trillion for the sector, and it is the highest ever under the administration’s eight years of paddling the affairs of the country.

According to a statement from the office of the minister of finance, budget and national planning the sum of N1.23 trillion is for the federal ministry of education and its agencies (recurrent and capital expenditure), N95.30 billion for Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), while N248.27 billion is for transfers to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for infrastructure projects in tertiary institutions, and N470 billion for tertiary education revitalisation and salary enhancement.

The budget, however, still fell short of the percentage recommendation by the global education agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for expenditure on the education sector.