Delta Governor Calls For More Revenue To Fund Nigeria’s Educational System

Delta State Governor Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, on Monday, said Nigeria needs to expand the frontiers of its revenue generation to enable the country mitigate the funding challenges inhibiting its educational development.

Okowa disclosed this in an interview with journalists shortly after inspecting facilities at the Faculties of Engineering and Environmental Sciences at the Owa-Alero Campus of the University of Delta (UNIDEL), Agbor.

He stated that there was no doubt that the nation need to invest more funds in education in terms of infrastructure, human resource, equipment that is needed and in ensuring the availability of full internet services in every university in the country.

According to him, it is important to fund the nation’s educational system but unfortunately the nation’s economy is challenged.

“If you look at the national budget and most of the state budgets, you will find out that both the federal and state governments are actually struggling through.

“When you have so many competing forces to deal with in an annual budget, you just try to put little funds across here and there.

“Because, in the first instance, you have to ensure that you pay salaries and if at the end of the payment of salaries you have little left, then it is a major problem.

“Whenever I studied the budget of the federal government, l feel very worried about the huge challenge we have as a nation because you find out that every single kobo that is actually going into infrastructural development or capital development is actually borrowed.

“So, when all your resource that is available outside borrowing goes into recurrent expenditure, there is a huge problem.

“And that is why if you actually study the budget in full at the federal level, what you tend to see is that in the individual sector such as education and health, you have very huge funds available for recurrent expenditure because of payment of salaries,” he said.

At the end, the governor said, “you only have between 10 to 15 or maximum 20 per cent for capital development, adding that this, in itself, was a very huge problem.”

The Governor stressed the need for the nation to find a way to reprioritize its priorities by beginning to look at the sectors that should be given greater attention.

“We need to invest more funds in education, no doubt about that; more funds in terms of infrastructure; more funds in terms of human resource; more funds in terms of equipment that is needed and ensuring that we have full internet services in every university.

“I think it requires a lot of work and a lot of prioritization to actually deal with the sectors that are most important. All sectors are important but some sectors are definitely more important than others.

“So, it requires a genuine analysis of what we are doing at the moment and then having a rethink to be able to take us to where we ought to be,” the governor added.

By Today NG

https://www.today.ng/news/nigeria/delta-governor-calls-revenue-fund-nigerias-educational-system-421752