By Gabriel Dike
The National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) yesterday decried the paltry 5.3 percent allocated to the education sector in the proposed 2022 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari.
While the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it is studying the whole 2022 proposed budget to enable it speak on the allocation to education.
President Buhari presented a budget estimate of N16.9trillion for 2022 and allocated N736, 689,055billion to the education sector.
ASUP and NAPTAN said the paltry allocation of 5.3 percent is coming few days after President Buhari had promised at the Global Education Summit held in London that his administration will increase the education budget by 50 percent.
The Deputy President of NAPTAN, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, told Daily Sun that the allocation to the sector is ”getting lower every year. It is far from 25 percent prescribed for nations by UNESCO.
”It is unfortunate that we continue to reduce the funding of the most crucial sector. The implication could be serious and dangerous. We are talking of closure of schools and Boko Haram menace. Government should not allow the wish of Boko Haram to come pass with the disruption of schools. Lowering the allocation to education is making Boko Haram to win.”
Ogunbanjo appealed to President Buhari to increase the allocation to 10 or 15 percent so as to address the numerous challenging confronting the sector.
The National President of ASUP, Mr. Anderson Ezeibe, said ”we are not impressed of the allocation to the sector. On paper, it looks like an improvement. The President at the London summit on education talked about an increment and he failed to fulfil the promise. It is nothing to celebrate about the allocation.
Ezeibe said the demands of the union is captured in the 2021 supplementary budget, stating ”we are yet to see the sectorial allocation for 2022 to know what was allocated to the polytechnic sub-sector. The devaluation of the Naira will make nonsense of the allocation.”
The National President of ASUU, Prof. Victor Osodeke, said the union is analysing the 2022 budget ”when we are through, we will make a statement.”
In 2016, President Buhari allocated 6.7percent of N6.06trillion to the sector, for 2017, it was 7.38 percent out of N7.29trillion, 2018, the administration gave 7.04 percent out of N9.12trillion, in 2019, he allocated 7.05 percent out of N8.92trillion, in 2020, government gave 6.7percent out of N10.33trillion while in 2021, Buhari allocated 5.6percent of N13.6trillion.