The Muhammadu Buhari led administration on Friday disclosed that it had expended not less than N212 billion on basic education and teachers’ professional development since 2015 when it assumed office.
This is according to a press statement published as part of activities to mark the government’s fifth years in office.
A breakdown of the sums of money stated that the Federal Government disbursed more than 170 billion Naira in Universal Basic Education (UBE) Matching Grants to States and the FCT since 2015.
Also, 8 billion Naira was devoted to Special Education Grant to States and private providers of Special Education, and 34 billion Naira from the Teachers Professional Development Fund to States and the FCT.
Another achievement list in the statement signed by presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina is the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP).
Although, no details were provided about how the money was spent, it is claimed that over 9.9 million Primary 1 – 3 pupils in 54,952 public primary schools in 35 States are beneficiaries.
“More than 107,000 cooks are engaged to deliver these meals,” the statement added.
Among the listed achievements of the implementation of the NHGSFP were that it “reduces hunger and malnutrition, and improves education outcomes (boosts school enrolment); farmers and produce ‘aggregators’ also benefit from improved access to school feeding markets and communities, and by extension improved incomes.”
Another listed achievement is the transfer of Almajiri Schools built by the previous administration to State Governments and credible Scholars of Islamic Education, for efficient administration and impact.
EduCeleb.com understands that about 150 such Almajiri model schools were either newly built or funded with additional facilities between 2010 and 2015 when Mr Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan held office.
Our report in 2018 found that despite this claim of handing over the schools, there were cases of such schools completely abandoned to rot away.
The government also mentioned the establishment of a few tertiary institutions as achievements as well.
The listed institutions include the Federal Maritime University, in Delta State; the Nigerian Army University, in Borno State and the recently announced six new Colleges of Education.
It is not immediately clear why some other institutions such as the Federal University of Agricultural Sciences in Kebbi State and the Federal University of Health Sciences in Benue state amongst others did not make the list.
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