NUT slams governors for ignoring primary education, UBE funds

The Secretary-General of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Obong Obong, said this in a statement issued at the weekend in Abuja.

"Over the years, the Federal Government has set aside 2 per cent of its Consolidated Revenue Fund to improve quality public primary education in the country," Obong said.

"State governments inability to access their allocation owing to failure to provide needed matching grants as their requisite counterpart funding is most regrettable and a disservice to the development of primary education across the country, a situation which has degenerated to a point where school pupils in some states receive their lessons under trees."

Obong said the governors' failure to access over 40 per cent of the Federal Government matching grant shows the lack of concern to developing primary education in the country.

"[...] the union considers this development as a serious indictment on those states, which best describes the lack of concern by the affected state governments in the development of public primary education in the country and explains vividly the reason Nigeria could not meet the expected target of attainment of Education For All by 2015," he added.

The NUT boss called on the state governors to "take urgent steps to access the available funds lying idle at the UBE Commission and use same to address the problems in their primary schools.

"It is only by so doing that they would have shown some level of concern towards the upliftment of the status of primary education in Nigeria."

Several stakeholders have blamed poor funding for the dwindling quality of education in Nigeria.