By Racheal Oyelola
The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Suleiman Bogoro, has decried the crisis in the education sector, insisting it stems from poor financing.
He, however, said the recent increment in the nation’s education budget by 50 percent and plans to scale it up to 100 percent by 2025 is one way of government recognising the challenges in the sector
Bogoro said TETFund was looking forward to when some areas that have suffered inadequate funding from the appropriation window will be taken care of, including making more funds available to institutions.
He made the remarks at the 13th Thematic meeting of the TETFund Research and Development Standing Committee, RDSC, on Education held virtually recently.
Bogoro said the crisis in the sector cuts across all levels from primary through secondary and tertiary levels of learning and is mainly the result of poor funding for education.
“Government has announced its intention from the budget year of 2022 to raise education budget by 50 per cent and scale it up and gradually double it to 100 per cent by the year 2025.
“That is something not immediately expected but the government has made the pronouncement. So I imagine that the 2022 budget will reflect that 50 per cent increase,” he said.
“The most vibrant economies are so because they have allowed education to dictate the way forward through qualitative research, to make a difference. In Nigeria, it cannot be different.”
He also noted government’s recent move of teachers retirement age from 60 to 65, saying the pronouncement is one way to recognise that basic education is the foundation and encourage teachers.
The TETFund boss lauded the Federal Government for steps to professionalize teaching and introduce special allowances for teachers, among other incentives.
“The retirement age of our teachers has been moved from 60 to 65. I think this is very encouraging for teachers. Of course, I mentioned earlier that those in the sciences will have better emoluments attached to their allowances,” he added.