The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, has disclosed that local governments’ financial autonomy will help grow the country’s basic education.
The Vice President made the statement during his lunchtime appearance in Abuja. The book Navigating the Politics of Universal Education Policies in Nigeria was written by the former deputy governor of Ekiti state, Modupe Adelabu.
In his statement, he noted that the financial autonomy granted to the local government will address the challenges facing the local government area in staying fast with the federal government’s aspirations to build a solid primary education in the country. He further noted that the decay inherited by the Bola Tinbus administration in primary education needs urgent attention.
He went on to state that the president was committed and is taking urgent steps to address the frustrations with universal education in the country.
The vice president also disclosed that financial freedom in the country would allow people in rural areas to enjoy the dividends of democracy and bring the government closer to the people by providing hope for initiatives in the educational sector.
He charged stakeholders and all tiers of government to support those in the race to implement great initiatives that are capable of bringing progress in the areas of education, especially basic education.
The vice president expressed worry over the level of out-of-school children who have failed to attend schools or have failed to complete their education; he noted that a good portion of the youth population lacks good skills of illiteracy and gender disparities are becoming a great concern. He voiced that the country must stand tall to overcome the situation.
In an earlier statement, Agora Policy and Abuja-based think tank Think-Thank charged the federal government with coming to a negotiating table with the states on local government autonomy to encourage cooperative federalism.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that the federal government should continue to pay all monies from the federal allocation meant for the local government directly to them.
A seven-member panel stated that the state withholding and using money meant for the local government is an abuse of power. The panel further stated that any state without elected local government chairmen should not be paid their allocations. The panel noted that the state governor is found to be mismanaging the local government funds through caretaker chairmanship.
