… Vows to eradicate out-of-school syndrome in Lagos
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has expressed the determination of his administration to prioritise the development of the education sector in the state through increased budget allocation to the sector which stood at 10 per cent presently.
The education ministry had got N133.5 billion in 2020, N146.9 billion in 2021 and N173.5 billion in 2022, out of N1.758 trillion, which are bigger than the entire budgets of some states.
However, the state government earmarked 10 per cent of its year 2022 Budget to the education sector to adequately groom the youths towards making the desired impact and contributing to the progress and future development of the state.
The governor, who was in Abuja for a meeting with President Muhamadu Buhari on the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, spoke on Tuesday, via zoom on the opening day of a two-day 2022, Lagos State Education Summit, held at Eko Hotel and Suites with the theme ‘Creating a Sustainable Fit-for-Purpose Education Model’.
Sanwo-Olu, represented by Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mrs Folasade Jaji, said his administration has completed over 1000 education projects in the last three years, adding that improved education is one of the legacies he wished to leave behind by the time he left office.
He further said the Summit came at the right time when the state has recorded improvement in the West African Examination Council, WAEC, results from 40 per cent to 80 per cent.
“Education is not just a pillar in one of our THEMES agenda, it’s one of the dividends of democracy and one of the cardinal objectives of our administration.
“We see it as one of the tools that can end poverty in our system. “We are not paying lip service to education, we are taking it seriously. Education has continued to receive an increased budget in our administration,” the governor said.
Sanwo-Olu added that his government would commit more resources to ensure all out-of-school children in the state returned back to school.
He stressed the need to collaborate with stakeholders in the education sector to register more schools that would be monitored by the government in order to check how they are impacting the students.
The governor added that his administration is looking at improving the welfare and needs of the teachers, as well as working with private schools to improve the education sector. He further said the Ekoexcel Initiative is one of the major success stories of his administration in the education sector.
“We believe we can do more. At the end of the Summit, we can have a real conversation with the private schools and work with them to ensure we get more out of Out-Of-School children.”
The state Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, said Nigeria has a lot to do in improving the education sector, adding the Summit was organised to find solutions to the problems of education in Nigeria.
According to Adefisayo, “Lagos is an important player in education in Nigeria being the sixth largest economy in Africa.
“This summit is about audacity. Some of the outcomes of this Summit will contribute to the process of solving education problems in Nigeria. The focus is not on the problems but now we want to come up with solutions. We want practical ideas that the state can implement. We are ready to listen.
“The state has implemented 210 out of 220 resolutions since the inception of the administration. We have employed over 7000 teachers to replace our fast-aging teachers, Lagos State teachers are the best paid in Nigeria and we have executed 1,400 projects,” she said.
She also said the state is making use of technology in teaching as shown in the Ekoexcel Initiative.
