The governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has reaffirmed the administration's commitment to reviving the education sector for long-term social and economic growth.He declared that the restoration of the state's public education system's renown and grandeur was at the heart of his administration's goals.
Mohammed made this statement on Monday in Bauchi during the 2023 Education Summit, which was arranged by the state government to modernize the educational system.
He stated that the goals of his government were to solve the issues and develop a workforce with the necessary skills to close the human resource shortages in the fields of health, agriculture, education, and the contemporary economy, among others.
"Our ultimate goal is to build a knowledge-based economy, transforming the youth unemployment demographic challenge into a strength by transferring the values, skills, and knowledge needed in the globalized economy," he stated.
Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, who also spoke, urged state governors to set aside a certain portion of the monthly revenue of local and state government councils for the purpose of funding higher education.
Without sufficient finance for the sector, Bogoro, a former executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), pointed out that neither access nor quality of education could improve.
He continued by saying that TETfund's sponsorship had led to outstanding accomplishments in tertiary institutions not just in Bauchi State but all around the nation.
The former head of the TETFund praised Gov. Bala Mohammed for giving the education sector sixteen percent of the 2024 budget, but he was asked to give the sector more money in the budgets that followed.
Leadership needs to take ownership of its accomplishments and shortcomings in governance.
"We have no justification, so instead of assigning blame, we should ask ourselves what we have done to strengthen the nation's educational system.
"Unfortunately, we in the region have the greatest percentage of out-of-school children. The elites in the north have had the advantage of running the country's education system better than those in the south.
"We increased the funding for research, which is the only reason Nigerian universities were ranked among the top 1,000 in the world during my term as TETfund Executive Secretary," he declared.
In order to guarantee that more children in the state have access to high-quality education, he also urged stakeholders and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to keep helping the Bauchi government improve the education system.
The summit's subject is "Nurturing a Flourishing Future: Improving Access and Quality Education in Bauchi State," according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).