The 2012 budget as presented by President Goodluck Jonathan before a joint session of the two chambers of the National Assembly last Tuesday has continued to generate mixed reactions from different quarters, especially as it affects the education sector.
According to a breakdown of the N4.7 trillion budget proposal, the security sector is to guzzle N922 billion, amounting to more than the combined allocations of 12 Federal ministries.
This is distantly trailed by allocations for Education (N400 billion), Health (N283 billion), Works (N180 billion), Power (161 billion) and Agriculture (79 billion).
It also amounts to more than the combined allocations for Health, Power, Agriculture, Water Resources (N39 billion), Petroleum (N59.7 billion), Aviation (N49 billion), Transport (N54 billion), Lands and Housing (N26 billion), Science and Technology (N30.8 billion), Niger Delta (N59 billion), FCT (N45.6 billion) and Communication Technology (N18 billion).
Based on the estimates, cost of running the government will rise to N2.47 trillion, representing 72 per cent of the total budget figures, up from N2.2 trillion in 2011. Capital expenditure is put at N1.32 trillion.
A further critical examination of the 2012 budget proposal showed clearly that the education sector got a paltry 8% of the total budget. Retrospectively, in 1999 and 2001, 16.77 per cent and 4.08 per cent of the country’s budget was appropriated for the sector respectively and in 2011, it received 10.24 per cent. Now in 2012 it is below an uninspiring 8%, a far cry from the 2011 appropriation.
Analysts say the country’s education system cannot be the paradigm of a 21st century education system of international quality, if the poor funding of the sector which has always been incongruous with the United Nations Education and Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s 26 per cent benchmark on education funding by member countries, continues to subsist.
Nigeria currently ranks 26th out of the 54 African countries and 13th out of the 16 West African countries on education. And the recently released UN Human Development Index (HDI), which is hinged on four critical macroeconomic variables of education, literacy, life expectancy and standard of living, also ranked Nigeria 156th out of the 187 countries that were surveyed. These startling revelations show clearly that the country’s educational sector is in dire need of resuscitation.
Over the years, the education sector has received the lowest attention from government in terms of deliberate policies to revamp the sector; this is even as the recent ASUU strike has compounded the situation.
It could be recalled that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had embarked on an indefinite strike over the federal government’s refusal to implement core components of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.
Addressing journalists recently in Abuja, the National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu expressed dismay over the refusal of the federal government to honour its agreement with the ASUU.
According to Onu, “For too long, the state of affairs in our universities has posed serious concern to Nigerians.? Our great Party is worried that up to this moment, much has not been done to meet the demands of ASUU for the overall benefit of our university system.”
He therefore, stated that such situation should not be allowed to continue, adding that it would pose serious challenges to the nation’s educational system if not resolved.
Onu, who posited that education remained a vital instrument for sustainable development of any nation, also pointed out that Nigeria could not meet its desire of being one of the largest economies of the world if it failed to strengthen her educational system.
He explained that the youths deserved qualitative education if they are to truly become the leaders of tomorrow, arguing that it would be impossible for youths to realise their aspirations if federal government does not pay teachers, improve their working conditions and provide conducive environment in the schools to enable learning to thrive.
According to a renowned economist and university teacher, Dr. Osaro Obobaifo, a situation where about 75 per cent of the budget was set aside to pay the salaries of politicians and public office holders was detestable.
He noted that the allocation for recurrent expenditure inferred that the current administration had no plan to develop the economy, stressing that no economy anywhere in the world could grow without proper attention to infrastructure and education.
He saw the budget as being tilted towards failure, stressing that the lion’s share that was allocated to national security might be misappropriated by the politicians for personal use.
In his reaction, the acting general secretary of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Owei Lakemfa described the 2012 budget as a disaster waiting to happen.
Owei Lakemfa said, “a critical perusal of the 2012 budget showed clearly that the present government has no intention to lead the country out of the present socioeconomic crisis. The budget, which was tagged: Budget of Fiscal Consolidation, Inclusive Growth and Job Creation, is actually an anti-people budget designed purely in the service of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and their local lackeys who dictate to the Nigerian government. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
“This further attempt to impoverish workers and the Nigerian poor, is coming on the heels of increased tariff on electricity, the move to massively sack workers in the name of merging parastatals, the attempt to collect more taxes through the return of toll gates, the refusal to adequately fund education, and refusal to pay minimum wage, which is an impeachable offence”.
The ominous signs are here with us. It just takes sincerity and open-mindedness to appreciate the deteriorating state of the education sector.
The collective task of building our nation, nay the education sector, can only be driven by the unalloyed commitment of all stakeholders at addressing the plethora of challenges of dearth of qualified and well-motivated teachers, funding, policy reversals, among others, that have continued to plague the system.