Increase budget allocation to education to UNESCO’s 15-20 per cent benchmark, Baptist Convention urges FG

The Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC) has called on the Federal Government to increase the annual budgetary allocation to the education sector to about 15 to 20%, as recommended by UNESCO.

The president of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC), Rev Dr Israel Akanji, made this call, on Monday, 9th May, 2022, at the Baptist Building in Ibadan, during a briefing with journalists on national issues, which marked the end of the 109th NBC annual convention-in-session.

Speaking on incessant strikes by workers in the nation’s universities (ASUU, SSANU and NASU), Akanji advised the government and ASUU, whose members are on strike “to place national interest above “ego” and short-term political consideration.”

He said: “We seriously urge government at state and federal levels to increase budgetary allocation to the education sector in line with the UNESCO benchmark of 15% and 20% annually.

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“It is expected that government would fulfil promises made, but where it is unable to do so, to employ respectable means of renegotiation, so that our children will not continue to linger and suffer at home.”

“We also advise ASUU members to look inward and develop creative methods to generate revenues without solely relying on the government for funding,” he added.

While assuring Nigerians of consistent prayers to God ahead of the 2023 elections, he admonished political parties “to field God-fearing candidates in the coming general election in the interest of our common good.”

In his appreciation to the government, on behalf of the denomination, Akanji thanked the Federal government for efforts that are being made on curbing insecurity.

He, however, called on the government to take pragmatic steps at dealing with insecurity by identifying the causes and developing solutions to terrorism, banditry, herders/farmers clashes and other crimes in the country.

“We, therefore, advise the government to be proactive in deploying intelligence gathering and surveillance, and reasonably predict potential crime with near-perfect accuracy rather than being reactive in the fight against security challenges in Nigeria,” he noted.

The president, however, appealed to the governor of Kwara State, Mr Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman to reopen the Oyun Baptist Secondary School, Ijagbo, which was shut in 2021 over the hijab crisis.

He said: “Hijab has never been a part of the dress code; and in the pursuit of peace, it is not supposed to be imposed on the school.

“It is expected that the cordiality and inclusiveness of our operations are respected and that the state government, which promised to find a lasting solution to the hijab crisis should not look away from the school, which has remained shut till now.

“We hereby strongly appeal to His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, to reopen the Oyun Baptist Secondary School, Ijagbo, which was shut down over hijab controversy, so that the students can continue with their education and particularly to enable the final year students to enable to write their WAEC.”

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Increase budget allocation to education to UNESCO’s 15-20 per cent benchmark, Baptist Convention urges FG

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Increase budget allocation to education to UNESCO’s 15-20 per cent benchmark, Baptist Convention urges FG