A total of N138 billion has so far been expended by the Federal Government in the development of basic education in the past three years, Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has said.
Adamu, speaking yesterday, in Abuja, at the launch of the National Personnel Audit (NPA), of all basic institutions in the country, said the amount covered both the coordination and development of basic education in Nigeria.
The money, which according to him, was a matching grant, was part of government’s resolve to support states and council areas carry their constitutional mandate of giving a free, compulsory and universal basic education.
Hear him: “The present administration, from 2015 to date had released the sum of N138 billion as matching grant. These funds are being accessed by States and FCT after paying their counterpart contributions.”
Although the minister noted that the past two audits which were carried out in 2006 and 2010, respectively only captured public basic institutions, he nonetheless said private basic institutions in the country have been included in the ongoing nationwide personnel audit.
While establishing that the audit exercise would provide reliable basic education data to ease and enhance effective planning by decision makers within and outside the country, he maintained that the exercise would also ensure that only qualified teachers were engaged in basic education institutions.
“As enshrined in Sections 9(f) and 9(I) of the UBE Act, 2004, the commission is mandated to carry out in concert with the states and local governments at regular intervals, a personnel audit of teaching and non-teaching staff of all basic education institutions in Nigeria. This is to establish reliable basic education data for planning.
“The National Personnel Audit will go a long way in establishing a string foundation for the emergence of a sound Management Information System (MIS) within the basic education sector. It will also strengthen the current National Educational Management Information System (NEMIS), which serves as a key pillar of the nation’s educational planning architecture,” he added.
Also speaking, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, harped on the need for all stakeholders in the education sector both public and private, to jointly work towards providing an accurate data that would show all relevant indices needed for effective planning in the sector.
On his part, Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, revealed that unlike previous audits, the 2018 NPA would make use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for proper identification and easy location of schools.
He explained that in order to make this happen, the commission was in partnership with the National Space, Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), to ensure efficient use of the GPS for quick conclusion of the exercise and production of results.