FCTA Commits $1,045,176,470Bn To Education

By: Austine Elemue

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has committed a total sum of $1,045,176,470 billion (US Dollars) approximately N177B for the development of infrastructure in the education sector.

The Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike, revealed this at the sixth International Conference on Learning Cities held in Jubail Industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently.

This he said was inclusive of the N3,500,000,000 counterpart funding from Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), bringing the total commitment of infrastructural development to approximately N177,000,000,000.

The Minister, who was represented at the occasion by the Minister of State, FCT, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, noted that Abuja’s annual budget for the development of education has surpassed the UNESCO benchmark of 26 per cent.

Highlighting further the total investment in different sub-sectors of education, Wike said a total of 21 Primary and Junior Secondary Schools were renovated completely, while a total of 30 Senior Secondary Schools were also established.

Other areas of infrastructural investment, according to him, include the tertiary education sector; adding that the FCT Administration has committed the sum of N14,529,622,993 for the completion and launch of FCT University, Abaji.

His words:”UNESCO generally recommends that member nations have a budgetary allocation benchmark of at least 26 per cent to education. This benchmark is intended to ensure that countries can adequately address needs of their education system such as teachers, training, infrastructure development, and educational technology.”

“It might interest my audience to know that Abuja’s annual budget for education surpasses the UNESCO benchmark,” he added.

Wike reiterated that the city under his watch has invested heavily in the training and retraining of teachers and educational infrastructure in the six Area Councils of the Territory.

He affirmed that the Administration has maintained a total commitment to the Abuja Learning City status as emphasized by UNESCO; stressing that Abuja City has adopted a “whole school” approach system that promotes peace, security, and tolerance through knowledge, skills and global awareness.

Abuja Digest reports that the conference brought together representatives from UNESCO learning cities, policy-makers, educators, researchers, and other stakeholders.