Corruption has continued to undermine investments in the education sector while critics downplay funding by focusing only on budgetary allocations.
This is the submission of President Muhammadu Buhari, urging a more comprehensive re-evaluation of expenditure.
The President spoke on Tuesday in Abuja when he declared open the Fourth National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector at the State House.
Buhari noted that measuring financing of education sector should include total education budget of each year by both federal and state budgets and other financial commitments in their totality.
The summit was organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Office of Secretary to Government of the Federation (OSGF) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
His words: “Incessant strikes especially by unions in the tertiary education often imply that government is grossly underfunding education, but I must say that corruption in the education system from basic level to the tertiary level has been undermining our investment in the sector and those who go on prolonged strikes on flimsy reasons are no less complicit.
“The 1999 Constitution places a premium on education by placing it on the Concurrent List, thereby laying the responsibilities of budgeting and underwriting qualitative education on both the Federal and State Governments.
“The total education budget for each year is therefore a reflection of both federal and state budgets and should be viewed other financial commitments in their totality.
“The allocation to education in the federal budget should not be considered via allocation to the Federal Ministry of Education and also academic institutions alone, but should include allocation to the Universal Basic Education, transfers to TETFUND and refund from the Education Tax Pool Account to TETFUND.”
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Buhari noted that the aggregate education budget in all 36 states of the Federation and that of the Federal Government, combined with the internally generated revenues of the educational institutions themselves were also subjects that require attention of critics of government funding of education.
In his remarks, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the education sector had steadily assumed a pariah status because of corruption that erodes values and resources, noting that education had become an enabler of corruption, instead of a tool for reforms and molding character.
According to him, “Corruption is eroding the practical purpose of education at all levels, primary, secondary and tertiary.”
The SGF urged leaders in the education sector to emulate the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who had provided “good example of anti-corruption leadership.”
The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, said “JAMB is without doubt one of the parastatals that has achieved what no other agency has achieved by extending the boundaries of transparency and accountability in public service.”
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