Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has revealed that his administration has committed approximately N177billion on the development of infrastructure in the education sector.
This he said was inclusive of the N3.5billion counterpart funding from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), bringing the total commitment for infrastructural development to approximately N177billion.
The minister stated this at the sixth international conference on learning cities held in Jubail Industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Wike, who was represented by the Minister of State FCT, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, also noted that territory’s annual budget for the development of education has surpassed the UNESCO benchmark of 26 percent.
Highlighting further the total investment in different sectors of education, Wike said a total of 21 primary and junior secondary schools were renovated, while a total of 30 senior secondary schools were also established.
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Other areas of infrastructural investment according to the minister, include the tertiary education sector, adding that the FCT Administration has committed over N14.52billion for the completion and launch of the FCT University, Abaji.
“UNESCO generally recommends that member nations have a budgetary allocation benchmark of at least 26 percent for education.
“This benchmark is intended to ensure that countries can adequately address needs of their education system such as teachers, training, infrastructure development and educational technology. It might interest my audience to know that Abuja’s annual budget for education surpasses the UNESCO benchmark,” he declared.
Wike reiterated that Abuja under his watch has invested heavily in the training and retraining of teachers and the provision of educational infrastructure in the six area councils of the territory.
He affirmed that the administration has maintained a total commitment to the Abuja Learning City status as emphasised by UNESCO, adding that Abuja City has adopted a whole school approach system that promotes peace, security, and tolerance through knowledge, skills and global awareness.
