2019 Budget: Borno earmarks N24bn to education

The Borno Government has earmarked over N24 billion for education in the proposed 2019 budget.

The figure is in Gov. Kashim Shettima’s N125.828 billion 2019 Appropriation Bill presented to the state’s House of Assembly on Dec. 24, 2018.

A breakdown of the budget showed that N61 billion was for capital projects, while N63 billion was for recurrent expenditure.

The budget document showed that education got the lion share of allocation in the proposed budget as it also planned to reinvigorate and address the destruction caused by Boko Haram insurgency in the sector.

​It stated that: “education has the highest allocation as it remained our topmost priority; for a state that has suffered setbacks from an ideology which seeks to destroy education, the best response is to continually invest heavily in education.”

Major highlights of the budget include the allocation of N11.297 billion to the state’s Ministry of Education for capital and recurrent expenditures, as the government work toward completing ongoing school projects and executing new ones.

Others include the provision of N2.227 billion to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to fast track the
construction and rehabilitation of schools’ infrastructure destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgents, procurement of furniture, computers, photocopying machines, teaching and learning materials, as well as utility vehicles.

The state government noted in the document that “it is a deliberate strategy to change primary school system and to lay solid foundation of learning for children.

“The measure became necessary in view of the emasculating effect of the Boko Haram insurgency, particularly on basic education which even in ordinary times, faced considerable deterioration and appalling lack of professional standard.

“In response to these, we are constructing 44 mega schools in different parts of the state, 24 of the projects will be formally commissioned in February.

“Each of these schools was equipped with modern technology and educational resources that include computer tablets and interactive whiteboards, designed to move basic learning to a whole new level.”

According to the document, the government will recruit 1,000 graduate teachers and establish a new agency tagged: “Borno State Mega Schools Board” to ensure effective regulation, monitoring and supervision of the schools.

More than N8.958 billion was also allocated to the Ministry of Higher Education to facilitate completion of the State University Project, and execution of educational policies and programmes in other tertiary institutions of learning in the state.

A total of ​N4.942 billion was also allocated to the Teaching Service Board (TSB) to facilitate recruitment, supervision, training, promotion and discipline of Post-Primary School teachers.