The Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for Community Empowerment Initiative, Benjamin Maina, on Friday proffered four ‘S’ namely; Share, Size, Sensitivity and Scrutiny as solution to Nigeria’s education challenge, particularly Gombe State.

Maina made this assertion during a live radio  interview on Amana FM monitored by our correspondent.

 
PERISCOPE NIGERIA reports that this engagement was part of the Foundation’s Global Action Week for Education GAWE 2023, in collaboration with Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All with support from Global Partnership for Education.

He said, “The solution is the four ‘S’. If we want to improve the quality of education in Nigeria and in particular Gombe State, Government needs to Share, the quantum of their education atleast to 20 per cent to prioritise education, secondly they need to Size, their budget to reflect the micro-economic policy.

“They should let the amount of the budget be determined by their income. The next is Sensitivity, be evidence driven, they are just allocating money to corrupt people to go and squander without adequate monitoring of how the money was spent. Scrutiny, through monitoring and evaluation there are indicators, you look at the outcome of money you are spending in Education sector to know if it is really yielding results.”

Maina disclosed that no Nation can develop without paying adequate attention to education, stressing that 20 per cent agreement should be adhered to by relevant stakeholders.

“No Nation can develop without quality and accessible education. We call on Gombe State Government to prioritise education by giving all necessary support for the development of education in the state. Agreement is agreement let stakeholders respect the education summit agreement of 2022 where they agreed to budget 20 per cent of their budget. Government should see spending in education as investment not consumption. To parents they should stop sending their children to farms thereby preventing them from going to school, our Nation can grow when our children go to school,” he said.

Also speaking, Malam Abubakar Abdullahi, State Coordinator of CSACEFA, decried the neglect of the sector especially the primary aspect, urging government to build capacity of teachers.

He said, “Teachers’ training and re-training is key especially those in primary school because that is where we are getting it wrong the most. When you have a primary school graduate that is half-baked it will affect his performance in secondary school.”

On his part, Programme Manager of FOCEI, Ephraim Samuel, urged residents not to leave the Education Sector entirely to government, adding that authorities were expected to undertake impromptu inspections to ascertain what teachers were doing.

Meanwhile, as part of commemorating the week-long event on Wednesday, FOCEI in collaboration with CSACEFA paid Advocacy visit to Permanent Secretary, Gombe State Ministry of Education, Malam Mohammed Galadima, where they advocated for decolonising education financing and actualisation of 2022 Education Summit’s Agreement.

“To promote 15 per cent to 20 per cent budget allocation to education, we also plea with the Ministry of Education intensify sensitisation on importance of education and provide safe spaces for learning to reduce the number of out-of-school children in Gombe State,” Maina said.

Welcoming the team, Galadima said education is a priority of the current administration, adding that more would be done in improving investments as resources improve.

On Tuesday, FOCEI’s team led by its CEO visited Gombe State Budget, Planning and Development Partners Co-ordination office and advocated for increase in budgetary allocation to education.

The Permanent Secretary Abubakar Gadam, who was represented by Labilwa Ismaila, Director, Technical Assistance, commended the Foundation’s effort promising to partner with them in their quest to improving lives in Gombe communities.

Gadam promised to open a file for future correspondence with the organisation, while promising to designate a desk officer who would ensure smooth relationship between the office and FOCEI.

He noted that the importance of education would not be overemphasised, following the growth and development it yields to the people and the Nation.