By Kingsley Okoye
Dr Bashir Achida, Economic Adviser to Sokoto State Governor, says the state allocated 30 per cent of its 2024 budget to education, above 26 per cent benchmark recommended by UNESCO for developing countries.
Achida told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday that the allocation was not merely on paper but with cash backing.
He said the 30 per cent allocation to education sector was based on the state governor’s quest to improve access to quality education of citizens, especially girls.
He said the ultimate aim was to enhance the quality of human capital in the state with a view to making them globally competitive.
According to Achida, the government is conscious of the need for human capital development and debate on girl child education.
He said the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, (AGILE) project, had kick off in Sokoto state.
Under the project, he said, that about 500 schools had been build and funds disbursed to support the students learning.
He said the state governor, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu, under one month of assumption of office paid the students enrollment fees owed WAEC by the previous administration.
“The governor also cleared the N800 million tuition fee for indignant students owed to management of Usmanu Danfodiyo University by the state government,” he said.
According to him, the governor also assisted indigent medical students studying in war ravaged nations of Ukraine and Sudan to complete their programmes in different universities in Nigeria.
Achida said the counterpart fund for Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) from 2021 to 2023 had also been paid by the governor.
This, he said had made the state have full access to the UBEC fund, resulting in training of teachers and students.
He said the governor had also spent over N500 million to secure accreditation of courses at the Shehu Shagari University of Education and the State Polytechnic.
This, he said had resulted in new lease of life for the students, knowing that their certificates, on graduation, would not be questioned by any one.
He said the governor, in a bid to ensure impactful human capital development had accelerated technical education, engineering and science.
He said the state government would soon establish a University of Science and Technology, given the importance of science and technology to development.
According to him, to ensure full execution of impact projects in education, health, and road construction, the government was giving 50 per cent instead of 30 per cent mobilisation to contractors for various project execution.
“No contractor has said it is owed by the Sokoto government, the government has cash backed all the projects”, he told NAN.
He also said the contractors’ have also been given a time line to complete the various projects, having been mobilised for the jobs in spite of economic challenges in the country.