The Federal Government is set to create incentives to encourage more investment from the private sector in education.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this during a summit titled, ‘Girl Child NOW: Nurturing our women — Nigeria’s own wealth,’ organised by Emergency Coordination Center in Abuja.
According to her, the Federal Government is in the process of preparing a holistic national plan, with inputs from states and key sectors to create a safe environment for learning in the country. She said this has become necessary following the vulnerability of schools and educational institutions to increasing attacks by bandits and insurgents.
She said, “Remember that President Buhari signed the safe schools declaration in December 2019, and I am proud to say that my ministry has been proactive in staging stakeholder engagements on financing safe schools and creating safe learning environments.
“We still have much more to be done, however with representatives drawn across sectors and partners, giving us the assurance that we are all collectively committed to ensuring adequate funding for the implementation of the safe schools declaration we hope to see improvement.
“However, the recent increase in attacks on educational institutions has made it imperative that we prepare a holistic national plan, with inputs from states and key relevant sectors, to create a safe learning environment in Nigeria.
“It is crucial that we secure the education of our children, as it is vital for the economic progress of the country and the attainment of the social development indices the country aims to attain. To achieve this, initiatives across agencies, states, NGOs, and donor partners must be harmonised to achieve maximal desired results.
“The private sector is also committing to playing a key role, under the private sector advisory group of the SDGs, via adoption of schools and spending as much as N100m for the provision of security, a good learning environment, and necessary tools for improved learning.”
According to the minister, she is committed to ensuring that resources are in place to support investment in the education, health, and development of Nigerian women and girls.
SOURCE: THE PUNCH
