Group Harps on Multistakeholders Funding for Education

 Group Harps on Multistakeholders Funding for Education – Olugbenga Adebiyi

“The volume of funds available for education to a large extent will determine the quality and quantity of school objective that will be achieved”. This was the view of Mrs. Modupe Onabanjo, chairperson Education Group of Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) during a seminar on the “Effect of Low Government Funding on Education in Nigeria” at the LCCI, Alausa last week.

During her welcome address at the seminar, Modupe said, “low government funding in the education sector has severely affected many areas of our lives as education stakeholders. The most challenging recently is the security of school environment, students and teachers at large”.

To solve the problem of paucity of funds in education, she advised that the Federal Government should keep to his promise as vowed in the Education Summit of 2021 in the United Kingdom, through improved planning mechanism and resource allocations; through management of budget and allocation and stakeholders involvement in education within the community.

Also speaking at the event, Professor Josiah Ajiboye Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) said, when it comes to issue of funding the questions to be asked are: “Is it that there are no funding, poor funding or misappropriation of funds? We need to get this clearly."

Going further, Prof. Ajiboye said overemphasis on Federal Government funding is making things worse in the sense that what the state and local authority are waiting endlessly for federal governemnt intervention for their own state or local projects. He said that the state or local councils are not taking initiative on how to generate funds hence the overeliance on federal governent funds or subventionsins. He said there are many ways the state could generate their own itnernal revenue without waiting for FG intervention.   

He lamented that Nigerian is not yet there in terms of funding as the UNESCO recommendation of 15-20% recommendation is not being followed. Pointing out that a review of the 2022 budget presented by the National Assembly to the President revealed that out of the ₦16.39 trillion of the total budgets, only ₦1.29 trillion amounting to 7.9 percent was allocated to education.

He also said that a lot of funds are lying fallow with TETFUND and UBEC that are not assessed because there is no political will on the part of the state to assess these funds, saying that the governors are more interested on how they can collect the money without their own counterpart funding not minding that the comatose and deplorable states of education in their states.

The erudite scholar said the major problem has been over-reliance on funding from the federal government allocation without looking at other sources like public-private partnership (PPP), donor agencies, adopt-a-school, individual contributions, stakeholders partnership/funding among other multi-sectoral approach to funding.

Ajiboye said the impact of poor funding has led to consistent ASUU strike, rise in insecurity, increase in tourism education, infrastructural decay, increased number of out-of-school children, poor quality teaching among others. He revealed that about 250 teachers have left the country this year January alone in search of greener pastures abroad. Hence, he advised that the issue should be tackled holistically.

Corroborating Prof. Ajiboye’s assertion, The Managing Director/CEO of EdFin Microfinance Mrs. Bunmi Lawson said that in the good old days community used to the part of schools development and funding of which she benefited a lot.

Lawson said “If the local governments are well-funded, they would be able to take care of the schools in the community”. She concluded that it is because there has been no participation in education that is why schools in the community are not doing well and have become shadow of themselves.

During the plenary session, Mr. Adegbola Adesina, Managing Director CSS Bookshop Lagos said, poor funding has affected the capacity building of teachers who he described as the “single most important factor in the school”.

Adegbola said during the Eko Project, an intervention fund with support from by the World Bank in Lagos State some years ago, teachers have the opportunity to travel abroad for training by the Eko Project but it is no more now.

Also the past president of ANCOPPS Lagos state, Mr. Isaac Olatunde said he applauded the government for providing funding through it has been minimal. He implored the government to do more because there are many areas in critical needs of funding in the education sector. He said without adequate funding, the education sector would not be able to develop a holistic person.

During a question and answer session, one of the participants, Engineer Twinkle Orimanye said Ghana education allocation is 26%, a little better than that of Nigeria. He further said that Nigeria should look more into technical education and ensure that she is not producing half-baked graduates who have nothing to offer saying that an air-conditioner technician in Ghana can also repair fix that of a car whereas the case is different in Nigeria as such person would be said to be a specialist in car alone.

Another participant, Oluwatoyin Camp bell asked how to correct the issue of lack of political will in the area of funding. So as to get funds that are lying fallow into the hands of the state.

At the end of the seminar, the group promised to issue a communiqué with a recommendation to the government on how to address this problem.

AFROGRAMS win 1m in School Debate

It was a celebration of joy galore when the African Church Model Grammar School, Ifako, Lagos won a one million prize at the National Intellectual Development Programme (NIDP) debate competition for secondary schools organized by the Caleb University, Imota, Ikorodu, Lagos.

The elated principal, Mrs. Folashade Olayinka Erinle could not hide her joy when the news was broken to her on the phone even before the students arrived as she gave a shout of joy in her office when the news of the school’s victory was broken to her during a telephone conversation.

Barachael College, Baptist Academy and Dansol High School all emerged second and third and forth respectively.

The first and second runner-up, Barachael College and Baptist Academy got #250,000 and #150,000 respectively while Dansol High School, which came fourth smiled home with #100,000.

About seven hundred students from forty secondary school participated in the event tagged “Career Expo” which was sponsored by the Zenith bank.

During a one-on-one interview with some of the participating contestants from AFROGRAMS, the Head girl, Maclean Fiyinfoluwa said this was not the first time their school is winning or taking first in competitions as the school has participated in so many competition and they have been winning.

Ahama Isaac who was the chief speaker during the contest said that it wasn’t a pyrrhic victory as they have go through rigorous preparation which for about one month to the competition. The student said the prize was made possible through the effort of their English Language teacher, Mr. Aganga who put them on their toes to ensure that the prize came to the school.

Dr. Temitope Fasoranti, the Executive Director of Zenith Bank who spoke during the Career Expo segment on the title, “Developing a creative Mindset in the 21st century” admonished the students to make their studies a non- negotiable priority by shunning all manners of social vices and carefully choose the appropriate career path”       

How to Eke a Living Abroad as an International Students

 Sometimes studying abroad could be pretty difficult for international students especially those who are self-sponsored. Most times, some of the expectation of getting menial jobs or some little support to augment their expenses like living cost, feeding, clothing, etc. might be dashed. And yet, life still has to go on. So, how do you as an international student (especially from African or developing countries)who happens to find yourself abroad survive? 

We are all aware that international students can work abroad for at least 20 hours per week, But sometimes finding job for the first year of your study might be difficult. In some other country like India, international students are not allowed to work in order to support their studies. At other times, you might find a job while studying abroad, but the wages might not be enough to support yourself. So, how do you do survive the hurdle?  

That is why this post is meant for you. Of you find yourself studying abroad as an international student, there are many things that you can do to eke a living in order to augment your expenses and still continue your studies.

1. Tutorial: If you are good at teaching, teaching other colleagues or international students like yourself English Language could be an income stream for you. We have many international students who are from India, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Niger, Cotonou, Congo, etc whose lingua franca aren't English. As English Language is the medium of communication in most universities and colleges, you can help to brush of their English for a small fee. You can even organize a group tutorial for them and charge them for a fee.

2.    Selling Stuffs: If you have a Midas touch and you can count your bean, then you can engage in selling and buying to make a living as a student while studying abroad. One thing Our local attire or fabric is a pride that people from other culture usually fascinate because of its uniqueness. Nowadays, 'Ankara' and 'Kente' is trending as it is becoming a fashionable trend loved by all. You can get a good tailor to make different sixes and you can sell your for a price and make money.

3.  Running your Own E-Commerce Store: Online store is trending and growing because of the internet. Since people can just go online and order some stuffs, they don't have to stress themselves going to the boutiques and stores to buy them. Designer labels like bags, shoes, belts, cloths, perfumes are some of the things that many fashionista go online to buy. Not peculiar to those who are fashion freaks, nearly everyone likes to look. By heling people to look nice, you can also make some cool dough too.

4. Photography: The other time, I was in Europe, I saw a students who was our paparazzi while we tour some campuses in Europe. Upon inquiry, I discovered that he was a student from the Middle East or one of the Arab countries. He said he makes a living with photography. If you are good at taking pictures, you can also make money without necessarily depending on the odd jobs out there while studying abroad. 

5. Creativity: Do you like some creative work like graphics and website designing? If you can build website or do some graphics or even develop software, then you don't need to look for any job. You can monetize this and make money.  That is why it is good to have some good skills here before going abroad to study.

Watch out for more on this topic soon!