Chidimma UCHEGBU
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has backed calls for a state of emergency to be declared in the education sector.
Chairman of the forum and Kwara State governor, Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, stated this at the National Conference on the Learning Crisis in Nigeria held in Abuja Wednesday.
The conference was organised by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) with the theme: “Scaling Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in Nigeria.”
Governor Abdulrahman said resources must be provided for sustainable and effective education.
Represented by the NGF vice chairman, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Abdulrahman also stated that education is in crisis and that a state of emergency should be declared in the sector.
He stressed the need to remove all barriers, such as gender, poverty, location, disabilities, language, and ethnicity that could hinder children from accessing foundational literacy and numeracy.
“We must follow the UNESCO standard for an education system that is progressive and sustainable. Governors in various states must commit above 15 percent of their budget to education.
“I support the call for a state of emergency, but it must be backed by actions; the resources must be provided, and we must look at issues that have militated against achieving sustainable growth,” he said.
On his part, the minister of state for education, Yusuf Sununu, said the learning crisis had been a challenge the education sector is faced with, which needs urgent solutions.
“In recent years, Nigeria has been grappling with a severe learning crisis that hinders our youth from achieving their fullest potential. A significant portion of our school-age population, especially those in underserved communities, face barriers to accessing quality education.
“The factors contributing to this crisis are multifaceted and include inadequate infrastructure, teacher shortage, unequal distribution of resources, outdated curricula, and socioeconomic disparities,” he said.
Sununu expressed the political will of President Bola Tinubu to raise budgetary allocation to education from eight to 25 percent in the next few years.
Also, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, said the conference took root from the outcomes of the UN General Assembly in September, where countries were urged to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 in order to regain grounds lost during the COVID-19 pandemic that saw unprecedented school closures globally.
“Just as Nigeria has galvanised significant support around the out-of-school problem, so too must it give attention to the learning crisis that is, in fact, fueling the out-of-school problem in Nigeria,” he said.
