The proposed 2016 budgetary allocation to the education sector is N369bn. It falls short of what was the case in the last three years. That not withstanding, it is the largest sectoral allocation to any ministry after the gargantuan Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, which got N433.4 bn. ENO-ABASI SUNDAY and UJUNWA ATUEYI, in this report, spoke with stakeholders. Expectedly, thorough implementation of the budget, efficiency and accountability topped their wish list.

Breaking away from a two-year tradition where the erstwhile Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, presented the budget proposal to the National Assembly on behalf of her principal, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the President, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday December 22, presented the Federal Government’s spending plan for 2016 to a joint session of the National Assembly.

The president, who arrived the complex with his vice, Yemi Osinbajo and some cabinet ministers in tow, disclosed that the government plans to spend N6.08 trillion this year, with revenue projection of N3.86 trillion, resulting in a deficit of N2.22 trillion. And of the total budget sum, N1.8 trillion is earmarked for capital projects.

Other than the three-pronged Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, which received N433.4 billion, education received the largest single allocation to any sector/ministry. But even with the N369bn it got, it fell short of allocation to the ministry in the last three years.

Available records indicate that in the 2011 budget, N306.3bn was allocated to education. The following year (2012), it rose to N400. 15bn, and in 2013 it was N426.53bn. In 2014, it was N493b representing 10.7 per cent of the N4.6tn national budget in that year. Last year, education got N492bn.

While many still lament that the 2016 allocation fell short of the much-touted, unconfirmed, 26 per cent recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), hence incapable of bringing about any radical turnaround in the fortunes of the comatose education sector, some analysts are of the view that the mere fact that the sector got the largest sectoral allocation was a reflection of the premium the administration places on education.

Be that as it may, this trend is seen as being far from encouraging considering the deplorable state of the country’s education system. It is also for this reason that many commentators and stakeholders have been harping that the country needs to, at least triple the current allocation to shake off the ignoble state of the system by applying the funds largely to significantly improve facilities for teaching and learning, teacher quality and welfare as well as curriculum delivery.

As one commentator put it last year, “We need the funds to break down obstacles to access of over 10 million out-of-school children. We need the funds to improve school safety. We need the funds to improve reading culture among our youths and for overall improvement in the quality of delivery of education.”

The 2016 allocation for education is majorly appropriation for funding education at the federal level. In order words, it will service only federal tertiary institutions (about a third of the total number in Nigeria), 104 unity colleges, the Federal Ministry of Education and 25 parastatals under it. In this connection, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory are also budgeting for education in their respective domains.

Nigeria still trails Ghana, Kenya, South Africa in spending on education

The gradual rise in the country’s allocation to the sector not withstanding she still trails African counterparts like Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana.

Shortly after this year’s budget proposal was made public, a publishing firm, Oxford Business Group (OBG), made the revelation in its annual report, even as it called for a budgetary allocation reforms in the country.

The outfit added that the country needed to do more to attain such a height that a real turnaround would be brought to bear in the sector.

The OBG, which said that there had been marginal gains in the sector, noted that the country had not kept pace with its evolving demographic profile.

“The former government assigned 10.7 per cent of the budget in 2014 towards education, up slightly from 10.2 per cent in 2013, and significantly higher than the figure of 4.5 per cent in 1999. While the percentage allotment has risen over the past few years, Nigeria is still lagging behind its regional peers such as South Africa (25 per cent), Kenya (23 per cent), Ghana (31 per cent) and the Côte d’Ivoire (30 per cent) in terms of proportional spend. As a result, there is still some way to go before Nigeria reaches UNESCO’s recommended spending level of 26 per cent on education for developing countries.

“Moreover, to make more substantive improvements, the composition of funding requires reform, as recurrent expenditures such as overheads and salaries currently make up close to 90 per cent of all outlays. Indeed, designated funds do not always make it through the system due to inefficiencies in public financing and incidence of corruption.”

Only efficiency, accountability will ensure value for money

Commenting on the 2016 budgetary provision, Managing Director, Pearson Nigeria, Mr. Muhtar Bakare said, “First of all, this figure is less than the amount budgeted last year. Secondly, it is largely earmarked to cover recurrent expenditure. Clearly, there are resource constraints and so there has to be more efficiency and accountability built into the execution of this budget to ensure that the country gets value for money.  The amount of money spent is one thing, but what is even more important is getting value for the money spent.”

On the sector’s budget emerging the largest sectoral allocation, he said that, “The impact of a proper implementation of the budget on the lives of the learners, and the multiplier effect that it has on the learners’ communities are even more important than the percentage or the absolute value of the budget. So, the government must do everything possible to ensure that the country gets value for money at this time when resources are so scarce. The impact of this budget on learners should not only be measurable but demonstrably so. This is one of the critical changes we need to make in our budget implementation processes.

On whether the allocation was capable of repairing substantially, the badly fractured education sector, he responded in the affirmative saying, “Of course it is. The intentions are always good; the challenges usually surface in execution. If the budget is honestly and efficiently implemented we will definitely see substantial improvement. I must repeat that it is of strategic importance that we start collecting data about what works and what needs to be modified; data, which can feed into improving decision-making in future.  With budget tracking being identified as one of the most important things the country must do to ensure that funds are judiciously applied in order for there to be visible outcomes, Bakare recommended that, “the Federal Government should entrench efficacy processes into the execution of this budget. Pearson’s focus on efficacy is motivated by our purpose of helping people to make measurable progress in their lives, through learning. Efficacy is about elevating our focus from the inputs of an education system, to the outcomes of a learning process. Adopting an efficacy framework this early in the implementation of the budget, will ensure that planning, resource mobilisation and execution will eventually deliver a positive impact on the lives of learners throughout the country with the attendant benefits to their communities.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) says Bakare’s views that transparency and accountability remain key if the sector must get value for monies spent.

According to executive director of the group, Adetokunbo Mumuni, “I suggest that all rules relating to transparency and accountability must be strictly applied and enforced. This should not be limited to the education sector. It must cover all sectors and segments of the country’s national life in such a way that when rules of transparency and accountability are infringed upon, the appropriate consequence and punishment as stipulated by law must automatically follow.”

Mumuni stressed that, “For there to be an improvement in the education sector, what is required is not the mere allocation of gargantuan amount to the sector, but the funds allocated must be monitored to ensure its judicious and effective use Secondly, specific areas of need in the education sector must be identified and focused upon for effective tackling. Thirdly, the resources/funds allocated to the education sector must be released timeously to meet the needs of the education sector in proportional phases, so that the situation in the past where what was common was the mere allocation of funds, but none actual would not return.”

The country trailing its regional peers notwithstanding, the executive director said, “The starting point is to retrace our step in Nigeria by taking retrospection into when, where and how we got it wrong. It is not too late to commence a conscious and deliberate surgical operation in the education sector. The implications of Nigeria’s backward slide in the sector compared to the mentioned countries are legion. The most obvious and fundamental of the implications is the negative impact on the development of the country in all respects (socially, economically and technologically).”

Insisting that the allocation to the sector can only be a starting point and not an end in itself, he suggested that, “A lot more needs to be done especially in the effective and efficient utilisation of the allocated resources. Wastages, seepages and leakages must be blocked wherever they exist and where they do not exist must be avoided.”

Once the National Assembly passes the proposal, professor of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Joel Babalola, expects the government “To promptly release the money as budgeted. This is against the background that there has been the long history of negative gaps between budget and the requirements of institutions of learning on one side and the budget and the actual releases on the other. In Nigeria, articulation rarely results in actions.”   He also stressed that all must ensure that, “there is public accountability for every kobo released through transparent expenditure monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting,” and “encourage public display and scrutiny of the information on the allocation as well as the expenditure. It has been well established in Nigeria that resources do not always translate to expected results.”
He also called for an improvement of “the allocation mechanism, which is generally based on political consideration and therefore allows an inefficient negotiation by interest groups. The quality of learning-based allocation should be encouraged. This is because most funded activities at the schools, ministry, departments and agencies do not often result in learning achievements.”

Falling exchange rate, dwindling oil revenue may affect budget implementation

For Vice Chancellor, Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, Prof Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi, “There is no doubt the 2016 budget and its implementation would be adversely affected by the exchange rate of the naira and dwindling revenue from the oil sector. One major effect on the education sector would be on procurement of educational materials from abroad, especially workshop and laboratory equipment. Furthermore, there is heavy reliance on  computer hard and soft ware components for teaching and research purposes, which are equally imported. It is imperative therefore for institutions, especially universities to reorder their priorities based on areas of dire needs.”

In this direction, he added that the “provision of central facilities, rather than individual units purchasing almost identical teaching and research materials could be a means of cutting cost.

“One major area that needs to be invested in is human development through training and retraining, especially postgraduate training. Improvement in infrastructural facilities especially power supply is germane in our quest for improvement in education through a reduction in the running cost, as heavy reliance on the use of generating sets eats deep into the budgets of most institutions. Each institution must carry out a thorough analysis of feasible areas of waste reduction in terms of manpower and materials,” the university administrator advised.

Adeyemi pointed out that, “Another major area to explore is to evaluate manpower requirements and operate with the required minimum manpower to ensure provision of teaching and research equipment. There should also be an aggressive drive for improvement in internally generated revenue to make up for the shortfall that may arise.

The don, who said, “In our present level of development, no amount is too much to be invested in education,” cautioned that the little that is allocated must be spent in major priority areas as may be determined by each institution. An important area that is worth considering is the provision of units that can enhance skills development for our undergraduates to complement their entrepreneurial skills as a means of reducing unemployment and making them not only employable, but more importantly for them to be employers of labour. In budget allocation, consideration must be given to vocational and technical education, also as a means of reducing unemployment among the youths.

For Adeyemi’s colleague at Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, Prof. Juliet Elu, “In relation to other competing sectors the allocation seems quite huge, but considering the present fallen standard of education and the massive requirements for speedy intervention and total transformation of this vital component of national development upon which other sectors rely greatly, one can only become the proverbial Oliver Twist and ask for more. This becomes even more apparent when one considers the bigger sums appropriated for education in the past years.

“While commending the plan to award scholarship to undergraduate students in the science and technology discipline as contained in the budget proposal, one wonders why the policy is designed only for public universities thereby disenfranchising bright students in many private universities. The time has come to bring an end to the unfortunate dichotomy created by the system that denies some institutions badly needed financial and infrastructural assistance while still expecting them to produce equally competitive graduates for the labour market.

“We therefore urge the government to take a second look at these policies with a view to ensuring fair play and balance in the distribution of amenities geared towards achieving the much needed transformation in the sector.”

For Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan, Prof Isaac Olawale Albert, since “Buhari promised to improve the education system in Nigeria during his political campaigns, the 2016 budget, the first in the life of the new administration, demonstrates a deep commitment to the attainment of this objective. The education budget for 2016 is N369bn. This is lesser than the education budget for the past four years: 2012-400bn; 2013-N427bn; 2014-N493bn; 2015-N492bn. The reduction is understandable in the context of Nigeria’s fragile oil economy. Not so much but how well!

Albert added that, “A careful consideration of how the budget would be applied suggests a new direction in Nigeria’s education policy. The government would provide free education for students in science, technology and education programmes and recruit 500,000 new teachers. Excellent ideas!

“However, the beneficiaries of the free education programme might end up with no jobs if Nigeria’s educational system does not change in terms of the knowledge provided the students. What is needed now are graduates that can generate new jobs. The 500, 000 teachers to be recruited would also not compensate to the poor school environment where students are now made to learn.