THE Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has decried what it termed deterioration of public education in Nigeria and called on the federal and state governments to efficiently fund the country’s education sector.
The Union also noted “the hampering and pathetic effects of poor funding to the sector, economy and growth of the nation.”
Expressing its displeasure and disappointment at governments’ “nonchalant attitude to making education sector formidable”, NASU said, “The low level of funding of the education sector continues to be responsible for the decay of infrastructure and lack of facilities in institutions in the sector and their inability to meet up with international standard. It is also the principal reason Nigerian tertiary institutions are lagging behind their counterparts in other countries and it is at the centre of the industrial relations crisis in the sector.”
Contained in a speech made by its National President, Comrade (Dr.) Makolo Hassan, the union said in the 2022 budget, “The education sector got N1.291 trillion representing 7.9 per cent of the 2022 annual budget of N16.39 trillion. This amount includes the transfer of the sum of N306.00 billion to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), which is an intervention fund for infrastructural projects in tertiary institutions across the country.
“On paper, it looks like an increase in the annual budgetary allocations to the sector. However, it is a far cry from what was being expected by stakeholders in the sector in view of the fact that the Federal Government had entered into Collective Bargaining Agreements with most unions in the sector, which have financial implications that are yet to be totally implemented.
“The government on its own has made far-reaching policy pronouncements to certain workers in the sector that also have financial implications. All these were expected to be accommodated in the 2022 budget.”
Furthermore, he said, “The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in its Education for All Report (EFA) for 2000-2015 tagged: ‘Dakar Framework of Action’ called for significant increase in financial commitment by national governments and donors to the education sector to accelerate progress towards achieving the EFA goals.
“President Muhammadu Buhari joined other world leaders in August, 2021 Global Education Summit in London to make a commitment to increase funding of education. He promised at the summit that his administration will increase the annual domestic education budget for 2022 and 2023 by 50 per cent. Three months down the line (August-October, 2021), the 2022 budget to the education sector falls short of that promise.
“The quality of education in the country should be something of great concern to the federal and state governments and they should pay attention to it. The reason their children and those of their colleagues in the predatory ruling class do not study in tertiary institutions in Nigeria is because the quality of education lags behind what obtains in countries where they send their children to. It lacks particularly in skills acquisition, knowledge and morals that are required to lead the country in the right direction.
“The federal and state governments should lead the struggle for the provision of quality education for our children by providing an enabling environment for teaching and learning.
“It is also high time for the Federal Government and her agencies that are responsible for the approvals given for the establishment of private universities, to effectively monitor what is going on in some of these universities as news that is beginning to come out of these institutions is becoming worrisome. It is one of the reasons these probate universities oppose checks and balances in the institutions by not allowing unionisation of workers in the institutions.”
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