Budget: Education records progressive increase, says minister

Rufa’i said this at a meeting with task teams for the 2013 mid-term review of the four-year strategic plan for the development of the education sector in Abuja.She said  in the last two years, the budget for the education sector increased from N234.8 billion in 2010 to N426.5 billion in 2012.On the basic education level, […]

Rufa’i said this at a meeting with task teams for the 2013 mid-term review of the four-year strategic plan for the development of the education sector in Abuja.
She said  in the last two years, the budget for the education sector increased from N234.8 billion in 2010 to N426.5 billion in 2012.
On the basic education level, the minister said intervention fund for each state is expected to be N1 billion for 2013.
“This is with states providing similar figure; there will be more resources for further development and rehabilitation of infrastructure across the sector.
“In addition to their normal budgetary provisions, our tertiary institutions are benefiting from increased allocation from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund),’’ she said.
The minister said that allocation to universities had also increased from N303.14 million in 2010 to N595 million in 2012.
She further said that allocation to the polytechnics increased from N216.56 million to N337 million and that of colleges of education had increased from N157.17 million to N319 million.
“For us in the education sector, we continue to work with diverse organisations that are key to supporting us in our quest for transforming the sector.
Rufa’i noted that international development partners, non-governmental organisations and the private sector had continued to support the sector actively.
She said the Global Partnership for Education was finalising the process of supporting five Nigerian states toward improving access to education valued at about N16 billion in the first phase.
She said that the UK Department for International Development (DFID), was supporting teacher development efforts through a new programme on teacher professional development.
The minister said that DFID portfolio of support had increased from N16 billion since 2011 to N61 billion currently.
She said the US Agency for International Development (USAID), was actively in support of the efforts in enhancing access and quality through a number of programmes worth over N16 billion.
Rufa’i said other partners are World Bank, UNICEF and UNESCO, while the Japanese and Korea international development agencies are also supporting the states.
According to her, they are also committed to the African Centres of Excellence programme and have made an initial seed grant of $15 million.
“This is a programme that will build on the successes of the recent $180 million STEP-B Project which has enhanced the infrastructure facilities in science and technology in federal post-basic institutions.
“As a result of the project, Centres of Excellence in 11 subject areas are currently in progress, promoting collaboration among our institutions both internally and externally,’’ she said.