Nigeria Universities – Polytechnics and College of Education news Nigerian Educational News | Zenith Of Educational NewsTHE supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike has disclosed to a correspondent of www.Dailyschoolnews.com.ng that the Federal Government’s intervention in tertiary education has greatly improved access, such that almost all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria can now admit more than a million candidates.
The Minister of Education, disclosed that prior to the establishment of twelve new federal universities in each of the nation’s geo-political zones, the only existing universities could only admit a paltry of four hundred thousand (400,000) candidates leaving almost two different million candidates who may have emerged successful in their entry level examination to their fate and not getting admitted that year.
Nyesom Wike who was present at a forum to present a ministerial scorecard of the education sector under President Goodluck Jonathan administration, went on to lamented the inability of some states to access the Universal Basic Education(UBE) grants for intervention in the basic education sector.
The supervising minister of education disclosed that despite criticisms on the part of Federal Government that adequate funds were not being injected into the sector, a total of fifty three billion, six hundred and seventeen million, two hundred and fifty four thousand, six hundred and twenty one naira (N53,617,254,621.53) has been lying fallow un accessed by the federating states.
The situation, Nyesom Wike admitted was because of the reluctance of the states to produce their matching grants before accessing that of UBEC which has already been allocated to them.
Among the highest defaulting states which Nyesom mentioned, are the following listed below.
Adamawa state,
Abia state,
Benue state,
Cross Rivers state,
Oyo state,
Plateau state,
Nasarawa state and a few others.
The supervising minister of education also went on to say this and we quote him directly:
“The Federal Government is concerned with basic education which falls under the purview of the states because if the foundation is faulty,you cannot succeed in building any structure.
Despite criticisms, this present administration has spent several billion to support states in educating pupils with special needs these past few years.”
At the event which drew participants from all tiers of the education sector, Wike said over N21billion went to states for teachers capacity building,adding that an average of N588 million went to each state for such purpose.
On expansion in the technical education sector,the Supervising Minister said N12.8billion went into construction of laboratories and other learning infrastructures between 2010 and 2013.
However, the Supervising minister of education, Nyesom Wike condemned parents who send their children to Ghana and other neigbouring countries for tertiary education saying they were ignorant of the massive transformation in the sector since the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, the minister of Information, Labaran Maku in his remarks criticised the North for the current security constraints facing Nigeria, adding that rather than play politics with the security issue, concentration should be on maintaining peace which will in turn foster development.
According to Labaran Maku, the north was highly lagging behind educationally, a trend he noted was making the south and western part of the country take all the glory of the country.
But seriously, is Wike Nyesom serious? why condemn parents who sent their children to Ghana for educational purpose? what has he done so far since the October 2013 ASUP strike?
