The Borno Government has proposed over N23 billion for the education sector in the 2020 appropriation bill to reinvigorate the sector and counter Boko Haram insurgency ideology.
News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the amount was captured in the proposed 2020 Appropriation Bill of N134.5 billion presented to the state House of Assembly by Gov. Babagana Zulum, on Monday.
Education, which is one of the major sectors devastated by the insurgency got the highest allocation in the proposed budget for the 2020 fiscal year.
Zulum said: “This administration gives high premium to education because no genuine social transformation and economic development will take place without education.
“For us to find solution to the root causes of insurgency; we must revamp the education sector to cater for the teeming population, the school dropouts and out-of-school children.
“We must improve on the school infrastructure; ensure accessibility to quality education and build capacity of the teachers. Teaching and learning environment must only be conducive but the staff must be well motivated to work”.
Some of the major highlights of the budget include the provision of N6.941 billion for the provision of infrastructure, furniture, teacher development and procurement of instructional materials under the Ministry of Education.
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Other projects listed in the document include construction of two Mega and two Technical Schools at Wuyo; Chibok, Mbalala and Bulabulin.
Also, a number of secondary schools will be rehabilitated in Monguno; Damasak, Gajiram, Gubio, Dikwa, Ngala, Konduga, Bama and Gwoza.
More than N2.218 billion was set aside for the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to facilitate construction of about 100 classroom blocks, procurement of instructional materials and routine school feeding programme.
The sum of N4.767 billion was earmarked for the Teachers Service Board (TSB) to carry out capacity development programme and recruitment of 1,000 qualified teachers.
Also, the Ministry of Higher Education got N9.136 billion to facilitate execution of viable projects at the newly established Borno State University, BOSU, Maiduguri.
According to statistics by the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UNICEF, over 1,000 schools and classrooms were destroyed and about 600 teachers killed, maimed or abducted by the insurgents in the past 10 years in the state.
NAN
