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For Nigeria to attain the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs), especially the universal inclusive and equitable basic education for all school-age children by 2030, it has been advised by the United Nations (UN) to increase its education budget from the present meagre seven per cent to 20 per cent. The timely advice was given by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, during the launch of the “Reports of the Independent Country-led Evaluation of SDGs-3 and 4 in Nigeria,” by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Schmale stated specifically: “In relation to SDGs-4 on quality education, it is concerning to note that Nigeria is unlikely to achieve the global agenda for universal inclusive and equitable basic education for all school-age children by 2030 if the current very low public investment in the education sector remains the same.” While noting that the right policies for free and basic education and gender equality are in place, it maintains that an increase in quality and access to education is critical.
However, the reports point out that government’s spending for health is inadequate to achieve the SDGs-3 targets, which are related to health and wellbeing. The reports, which were supported by the Federal Ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Health and Education and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria, came at a time that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) put the number of the nation’s out-of-school children at 20 million. Before now, the number of Nigerian children that are outside the school system has been estimated to be between 10.5 million and 13 million by different agencies. While Ethiopia’s number of out-of-school children is 10.5 million, the Democratic Republic of Congo has 5.9 million and Kenya, 1.8 million.
According to the latest data of children who are not in school released by UNESCO, not less than 224 million children and youth aged between six and 18 globally are said to be out of school. Sadly, the sub-Saharan Africa region still has the highest number of youth and out-of-school children put at 98 million. The region, the report says, is still the only one where the number of children outside the school system is increasing.
Although Schmale praised Nigeria’s strides towards achieving SDGs-3 and 4, he observed that the two reports underscored the need to significantly increase public spending in health and education services. The UN advice to the government to increase education budget from seven per cent to 20 per cent is commendable and government should heed it. We decry the poor funding of education and the rising number of out-of-school children. Devoting 20 per cent of the national budget to education will substantially address the problems in the sector occasioned by poor funding. It will also go a long way in fixing the dilapidated infrastructure in the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as well as enhance the quality of teaching and learning in our tertiary institutions. Increasing the budget for education will, in addition to meeting the targets of SDGs-4, also reduce the growing number of Nigeria’s children who are outside the school system. With 20 per cent of the national budget for education, the recurring strikes by university teachers will be halted.
Since achieving the targets of SDGs-3 and 4 has to do with education and health sectors, the budget for health should also be increased. Revamping both critical sectors will rub-off on the quality of schools products and the wellbeing of Nigerians. Education must be given priority attention in an era of knowledge economy. For Nigeria to attract highly skilled teachers and cutting-edge intellectuals, the public universities must be adequately funded and equipped. At present, many Nigerian universities, both public and private, lack facilities for effective teaching and learning. That is why the National Universities Commission (NUC) must not relax in carrying out its regulatory functions in these institutions. And to produce graduates that can compete globally, the quality of instruction in our universities needs to be improved.
We call on the federal, state and local governments to work in concert to ensure that Nigeria heeds the UN advice to increase the education budget. The private sector and donor agencies can also assist the government in this regard as it is the practice in advanced countries. Ensuring that the 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are brought to the classroom may likely curb the general insecurity across the country. In all, government should place high premium on education at all levels – primary, secondary and tertiary. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the national budget for education is increased forthwith.
