- Abdulrahman made this appeal during a National Conference on the Learning Crisis in Nigeria, organized by Unicef and the Federal Ministry of Education in the capital, Abuja
Abdulrazak Abdulrahman, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, has urged state governors nationwide to raise their annual budget allocation for the education sector to 20 percent in order to address funding challenges effectively.
He also voiced support for the declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector, coupled with tangible actions. Abdulrahman made this appeal during a National Conference on the Learning Crisis in Nigeria, organized by Unicef and the Federal Ministry of Education in the capital, Abuja.
He emphasized the importance of adhering to established standards to enhance funding for the education sector in Nigeria, aiming to alleviate challenges across the 36 member states.
“We must follow UNESCO standards for an education system that is progressive and sustainable; governors at the various states must commit between 15 to 20 percent of our 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 mitigated against achieving that sustainable growth.
“It is one thing to declare a state of emergency but it’s another thing to put all the resources and elements that will allow us to achieve it.
“So I support putting the resources in place to allow us to move fast at it. Our education is in crisis and a state of emergency should be declared in all sectors. We need a solid roadmap and I believe it is a collective involvement,” he said.
He decried the over 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria.
“A situation where 6 million children are enrolled into school in Nigeria and only 2.3 million stay back shows that there is a crisis to be addressed.
“Similarly, 50% of our girls are not attending school because of violence, poverty, early marriage among others,” he said.
The Chairman was represented at the event by the Oyo state Governor, Sheyi Makinde.
UNICEF Nigeria Representative, Ms Cristian Munduate in her opening remark advocated for the use of a structured Pedagogy model to mitigate the learning crisis in Nigerian’s educational sector because of its flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
She said significant investment in the science of reading and numeracy in Nigeria over the past ten years has taught the agency what works to solve these crises using low-cost and highly adaptable models.
“Structured pedagogy, focuses on among others, continuous teacher professional development and availability of books in local languages, works to improve performance in literacy and numeracy.
“It works for children in school and for those out of school; it works in emergency settings and development settings. And it works for remote and distance learning when children cannot be in school” said Munduate.
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