Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

NEDC plans 18 mega schools to revive education in North East

By Adamu Abuh, Abuja
25 November 2021   |   3:52 am
Plans are underway by the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to build no fewer than 18 mega educational institutions to combat insecurity in the North East geopolitical zone of the country.

Mohammed Alkali

Plans are underway by the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to build no fewer than 18 mega educational institutions to combat insecurity in the North East geopolitical zone of the country.

Each of the mega schools, which is part of NEDC’s development agenda, will be spread across the three senatorial zones in the six states of the North East region.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NEDC, Mohammed Alkali, made this known during an interactive session with members of the North East caucus of the National Assembly.

He explained that the initiative was in line with the quest to revive the education sector in the North East region and assured members of the Danjuma Goje-led caucus that the commission would consult with critical stakeholders to arrive at the decision on where to site the schools.

Alkali, who identified inadequate funding as the major challenge of the NEDC, canvassed increase in the statutory allocation of three per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) and equalisation fund to five per cent to alleviate the problem.

He expressed concern that the ongoing litigation between the Federal Government and some states over collection of VAT proceeds might affect the commission adversely in the event that the courts rule in favour of the states.

NEDC’s lead consultants, Dr. Kasim Gidado and Dr. M. K. Ahmed, who disclosed that 80 per cent of funding for the commission was expected to be sourced from the private sector, urged the lawmakers to put in place a regulatory framework to achieve the objective.

Ahmed said the NEDC required over $ 9.6b based on assessment of the World Bank and the European Union (EU) to fix the infrastructure needs of the North East geopolitical zone, which has been at the receiving end of the Boko Haram terrorists in the last 10 years.

He, therefore, canvassed a world donor conference to raise funds that could augment statutory allocation to the NEDC to achieve its mandate in the next decade.

0 Comments