The National Association of Polytechnic Students, NAPS, has rejected the seven per cent allocated to education in the 2018 proposed budget.
A statement jointly signed by NAPS National President, Mohammed Eneji and Public Relations Officer, Ijaduoye Olasunkanmi noted that the amount earmarked for education sector was too meagre and irrelevant compared to the 26 per cent National minimum budget recomended by the United Nations.
It observed that Buhari-led administration has no regard for education in the country, as it continue to pay less attention to the educational sector which the government should have prioritized.
The statment said, “The global organization recommended the budgetary benchmark to enable nations adequately cater for rising education demands. But in the proposal presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday, the President Muhammadu Buhari allocated only 7.04% of the 8.6 trillion 2018 budget to the education.
“The total sum allocated to the sector is N605.8 Billion with N435.1 Billion for recurrent expenditure, 61.73 Billion for capital expenditure.
“This is unfair to our generation and NAPS hereby appeal to the federal government and all authorities involved to revisit the budget or urgument it at the Supplimentary budget so as to aid the standard and quality of our graduates in Nigeria.
“If the older generation have enjoyed free and accessible education during their time, it is going to be a crime for us who are the future generation of Nigeria to suffer and be faced with poor infrastructure, poor education facilities and incessant strike by our Lecturers.
“This was not the intentions of our forefathers and we will continue to engage the government constructively to achieve the Nigeria of our own.”
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