Lagos education budget bigger than some states’ yearly budgets, says Sanwo-Olu

• State trains 2,500 women on vocational skills
• Says empowerment reduces domestic violence, tensions

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, said that critical investment in education sector was aimed at ensuring students in the state receive quality education in a conducive and friendly environment.

He said that the yearly budget for the state Ministry of Education is bigger than the total budget of some states in Nigeria.

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, at the 2022 equal education summit organised by the ministry and the Office of Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, disclosed that the education ministry got N133.5 billion in 2020, N146.9 billion in 2021 and N173.5 billion in 2022, which are bigger than the entire budgets of some states.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, said that about N23.62 billion had been spent on just physical infrastructure in the last three years in the state.

She said the state needs to increase private sector collaboration and support for the education sector because government funding alone cannot meet all the needs.

MEANWHILE, the state government, yesterday, said that it had empowered about 2,500 women across 10 locations in the state with 250 of them parents of out-of-school children.

It said that when women are economically empowered, there is less tension in the home and obvious reduction in domestic violence.

Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Cecilia Bolaji-Dada, stated this during the closing ceremony of the short-term skills acquisition programme organised by the ministry for parents of out-of-school children and women across the state.

The commissioner, therefore, urged all unemployed persons, the under-employed and those who are still patiently waiting for white-collar jobs to utilise the opportunities by learning at least a vocation to become self-dependent.

Bolaji-Dada, who maintained that Lagos State government had zero-tolerance to idleness in any form, said: “This programme is a socio- economic intervention one, which is directed at financial sustainability and progress. I must specifically commend all participants who had engaged in this laudable initiative for their large turnout, passion and enthusiasm in the last four weeks. Today is indeed a day to crown your efforts with success and glory. It is on this note that I congratulate our distinguished graduands and I wish you all progress in your various businesses.

“The Lagos State Government and indeed all of us gathered here today are very much aware of the prevailing economic circumstances in Nigeria today. There is a dearth of “white-collar” jobs that are seriously going into extinction. It is in realisation of this economic reality that the Lagos State Government established 20 functional skills acquisition centres with 20 vocations across the state with additional centre and newer vocations to be launched in just few weeks.
She, therefore, implored the participants to see the training as a gold mine deposited in them through the training.

“Dig out, explore and use it to better your lives and people around you,” she said.