Budget: Still a drop in the ocean for education Almost five years after President Goodluck Jonathan’s political ascendancy, proper funding of the nation’s education to meet the UNESCO requirement remains elusive, CHARLES ABAH writes When Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became the President in 2011, many Nigerians, particularly those in the education sector, were excited about his emergence. They had obvious reasons for expressing this enthusiasm and anticipation. According to them, Jonathan is not just the first truly university lecturer to become a President; he has a doctoral degree in his kitty. So by stakeholders’ calculation, the nation’s education under Jonathan’s administration would witness a dramatic turnaround, at least, so they thought. But more than four years down the lane and with just a few months to the end of his first term, the excitement seems to have evaporated. The President College of Education Academic Staff Union, Mr. Emmanuel Nkoro, summaries it thus, “In education, we have not fared well. Particularly, in education funding, we are not yet there.” Many other analysts say that the country has yet to meet the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation 26 per cent annual allocation to the education sector benchmark for developing countries. They argue that although the Jonathan administration unlike his predecessors has improved on the allocation to education, what the sector still receives annually remains like a drop in the ocean. In fact, another school of thought argues that Nigeria spends more on defence and security than on education and health. A breakdown of the statistics shows that while the sector in 2011 received N306.3bn, defence got the highest share of N311, 692bn. The Senate approved N4.971tn for that year’s Appropriation. Again, of the N4.749tn, representing about six per cent increase over the 2011 budget, education in 2012 received N400.15bn representing 8.43 per cent of the financial plan. Out of this, N345.091 (82 per cent) was for recurrent expenditure, while a meagre N55.056bn (18 per cent) was for capital expenditure. Once more, where security in 2012 received N921.91bn the highest sector in the budget that year, health even got N282.77bn. In 2013, the Jonathan-led administration appropriated N426.53bn of the N4.92tn budget to education, just as in 2014, the sector received N493bn, representing 10.7 per cent of the N4.6tn national budget proposal. For 2015, the statistics before the seventh National Assembly shows that the Federal Government has proposed N492, 034bn for education, comprising N472, 034bn for recurrent expenditure and N20bn for capital expenditure. However, even as it looks on paper that there seems to be an annual increment in the education budget, evidence from analysts and international bodies shows otherwise. For instance, while the 2013 education budget shows a modest increase, statistics by the United Nations Human Development Index that year ranked Nigeria 26th out of the 54 African countries and 13th out of the 16 West African countries on education. Besides in practical terms, countries, such as South Africa, Ghana just to mention a few, have become new destinations for Nigerians seeking better education overseas. In South Africa, for instance, education got the biggest slice, receiving R232.5bn – of the country’s R1.06-tn in its 2013 national budget. Also, the sector received a share of 20 per cent (R254bn) of government’s consolidated expenditure – higher than any other sector in 2014. Stakeholders also note that examples of this foreign influence abound. For instance, the 24-year-old Hallowed Olaoluwa, the youngest African to earn a PhD, they say, had his primary and secondary education in the Central African Republic before coming for his doctoral programme at the University of Lagos. Similarly, Edo State-born Osarieme Omonuwa did her first degree in Law at the Reading University in the United Kingdom before returning to emerge as one of the best graduating students in the Nigerian Law School in 2014. She obtained a first class in the examination, which recorded mass failure among budding lawyers. Even the failure rates in examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council, National Examination Council and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board are other testimonies, stakeholders posit, are giving them cause for concern. Indeed, of the over 1.7million candidates, who sat the 2014 May/June WASSCE, only 529,425 candidates, representing 31.28 per cent, obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics. In 2012, where 38.81 per cent candidates obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics, only 36.57 per cent of the candidates obtained the same result in 2013. For the COEASU President, the decline in the sector is not surprising. He notes that though the country has yet to meet the UNESCO requirement, the “little” budgeted for does not get to the appropriate institutions. Nkoro says, “We must develop a tradition of calling a spade a spade. As soon as Jonathan leaves office, people will start telling us the evil in his administration. They will start telling us how education did not fare well. In fact, it is in this administration that people leave school and stay so long at home because of strike. What Jonathan has been doing effectively is paper work. Even what they have budgeted, go and check whether this money practically gets to the appropriate quarters. People, who actually take this money, whether in education, agriculture or any other sector, have no business being there. “Again, whether the funding is 26 per cent or not, even the little that is put there, if there is effective monitoring and direct application of those funds for the purpose of which they are meant for, the sector would have fared better.” The Vice-Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju, who shares Nkoro’s view that there is the need for a more effective money disbursement policy, also wants a sizeable increment in education allocation. According to him, the government must show enough commitment by making progress in allocating a higher percentage to education, perhaps a quarter of the entire budget to the sector. Beyond that, he notes that the issue of disbursement should receive serious attention. The VC adds, “The thing is even if you allocate 26 per cent, the question is how effective is the disbursement? Does it get to the right places and institutions? Have you done your comprehensive auditing? Effective auditing will tell the areas of needs and inadequacies. Then the final question is who monitors quality control? So while we are seeking the UNESCO benchmark, we should also be conversant with these local realities.” From Jonathan’s former constituency, the university community, the verdict also remains uninspiring. According to the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Segun Ajiboye, whatever currently obtains in the funding of education in the country is very different from the UN agency’s benchmark. The ASUU helmsman adds, “It appears the budgetary allocation to education has been on the increase in the recent years, however, when you juxtapose the percentage of annual budgetary allocation to education with other sectors, you will discover that it is still a far cry away from the UNESCO benchmark of 26 per cent recommended for developing countries. For instance, in the 2014 budget; education received only about 8.4 per cent of the allocation. The last time the country fared better was in 2007 under President Olusegun Obasanjo when his government allocated about 12 per cent of the budget to education. “This has been a major concern to our union and we have expressed our displeasure on this ugly trend. This is more so when you consider what other smaller African countries such as Ghana, Botswana, Tunisia, Tanzania, among others, set aside as budgetary allocation to education. Some of these countries have surpassed the UNESCO benchmark because they consider human capital development very critical to overall national development. “That was why the last education summit organised by the four staff unions in Nigerian universities called for a declaration of an emergency in education to give the sector the required attention with adequate funding. Without adequate funding of education all efforts at development of the country will amount to nothing.” The President, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, Chibuzor Asomugha, who says education is critical in all economies, especially the developing countries, notes that it is distressing that the sector is not getting a deserving attention in Nigeria. He adds, “It is a sad commentary that a country like Nigeria aspiring to play in the global top league should have continually failed to make this very achievable mark. All that we need is the political will to place this recommendation on the top ranking of our priorities. If Ghana, South Africa, Malawi and many smaller African countries could make the mark, there is no reason why Nigeria will not be able to.” Nevertheless, as many frown on the government attitude to funding of education, a retired professor, who craves anonymity, notes that the focus should go beyond the financial support the sector receives. He says, “I agree that we are not funding education well, but I want to believe there are other sectors that are competing for attention, such as health and infrastructure. But the point is whether all these areas are receiving proper funding? This may explain why the government may not meet the UNESCO’s benchmark on education. “Besides something else is happening in some of these federal universities, so much is being generated by a way of Internally Generated Revenues in these institutions and their managers as well as operators are not being called upon to account for them. It is good to focus on Jonathan the way we are doing but how about those who are managing these IGRs, are they using the money judiciously? “I will also like to say that there are wastages in the nation’s university system. For example, almost every official in the system has an official car at the expense of core functions of the universities. So while we focus on the superstructure, we should also not forget the substructure. With what obtains in the polity, if Jonathan should fund education the way we want, the chances are that the money will go down the drain.” Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. 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Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:07:48 +0000
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