Education Needs More Funds, Osun Lawmaker Advocates

By Israel Afolabi

The Chairman, State of Osun House Committee on Education, Hon. Oladoyin Folorunso has called on the Federal and State governments in the country to allocate more funds to the education sector to enhance its effectiveness.

Bamisayemi made this call on Tuesday while speaking with OSUN DEFENDER in his office at the State House of Assembly complex Osogbo, State of Osun.

He tasked government to give education more attention and enhance quality in the sector while faulting the state and federal governments’ allocation to the sector in the previous years’ budget.

According to him, “The low quality of education in Nigeria is the direct result of poor funding of the sector which has continuously made it difficult for educational institutions to meet global standard”.

“There is a correlation between investment in education and national development, but the funding of education in the country has continued to lag behind when compared to investments in education by western countries and others neighbours”, he added.

The lawmaker who represents Ife- South State constituency also called for the review of the Education Act to compel the allocation of adequate funds to the sector.

He also lamented that there are several things which call to question the integrity of the nation’s educational system including the inadequate allocation of funds to the sector by the executive arms in its annual budgets.

He noted that substantial parts of these allocations go to the administration instead of actual teaching and learning while most school administrators also end up squandering a substantial percentage of the allocations through corruption.

He observed that most teachers lack the capacity to teach and most products of educational institutions seem to be certificated illiterates.

He said, “At the university levels the situation is not different because the ills of our larger society are creeping into our university system. If you are a manager in the education sector and you pervert justice or condone injustice, where lies your integrity”.

He urged all stakeholders in the sector to stand up to the challenges of tertiary institutions so that it can be curbed once and for ever.