2023 budget: Don calls for more budgetary allocation for education in future proposal

An Economist, Prof.Evans Osabuohien, has appealed to the Federal Government to make more provision for education sector in future budget to avert unnecessary crises in the sector.

Osabuohien, also Head of Economics Department, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun, made the appeal while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday.

He spoke while reacting to the passage of N20.5 trillion by the Senate on Wednesday in Abuja.

The don, however, commended the Federal Government for increasing the percentage of budgetary allocation for education in 2023.

“In terms of percentage, the budgetary allocation for education in 2023 Budget is a little better and there has been an improvement compared to 2022 budget but it is still relatively low,” he said.

Osabuohien noted that President Muhammadu Buhari proposed more allocation for education in 2023 but it was still below the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommendation.

He said that Buhari proposed N1.79 trillion for education sector, representing about 8.8 per cent of the total 20.5 trillion proposal.

NAN reports that this allocation was above the N1.18 trillion or 7.2 per cent of the total budget presented in 2022.

The don emphasised the need for more budgetary allocation in future budget because the sector had witnessed a prolonged crisis through the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2022.

He noted that more allocation to the sector would restore the lost glory and make more positive development in terms of infrastructure across the tertiary institutions.