President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to increase the budget for the education sector by as much as 50 per cent over the next two years.
In the long term, he promised that budgetary allocation to the sector would witness a progressive increase to about 100 per cent in the next four years.
The President made the commitment on Wednesday in a document titled, ‘Heads of State Call to Action on Education Financing Ahead of the Global Education Summit,’ his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said in a statement.
According to him, the document was signed as a form of commitment at the ongoing summit in London, United Kingdom.
“We commit to progressively increase our annual domestic education expenditure by 50% over the next two years and up to 100% by 2025 beyond the 20% global benchmark,” President Buhari was quoted as saying.
President Buhari departed Nigeria for the United Kingdom on Monday to participate in the summit to be co-hosted by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, and the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta.
The event is expected to bring together Heads of State and Government, as well as stakeholders and youth leaders, and provide a platform for partners to chart a way forward towards transforming education systems in partner countries, through the exchange of best practices.
It will also offer the opportunity for leaders to make five-year pledges to support GPE’s work to help transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories.
President Buhari was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba; the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), and the Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ahmed Rufai.