The Head of Department, Commercial and Industrial Law in the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, Hon Jake Otu Enya, has condemned the budgetary appropriation allocated to education in Nigeria.
Speaking to our correspondent on telephone on Monday, the Don lamented the 48bn the Federal Government allocated for education in the 2020 budget saying that it was a far cry from reality, “That allocation would not be able to handle various challenges in the education sector.
“I was the Chairman of Finance and appropriation in the Cross River State House of Assembly and I know the integrity of budget and indices that determined a good budget that is for growth and development.
“I know the budget that can make impact in any sector of the economy and education. Critically, the appropriation for education in Nigeria was below standard, when you compare it with other sectors, it is far cry for what I definitely think of.
“If Nigeria must get to her height as far as educational attainment is concern, even by United Nation’s average, we are not where, we should be. We are deteriorating; we hope that education with all the importance attaches to it will not collapsed.”
He pointed out that, Education should have its rightful place in Nigeria, but looking at the budget, it is certainly not good enough, and how do you check the cries, particularly in infrastructure in different institutions.
“What is the provision of infrastructure in schools and all that, the budget was not encouraging, that is the truth about it, I was the one who actually in charge of the budget of Cross River State for some years, so I know what I was saying, take it or leave it, we need to make a budget that will provide various needs in education,” he stressed.
