17102019 - FG cuts travels, estacodes for ministers, other officials

42 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019
Innovation can help
solve Nigeria’s economic
challenges — IPBIM boss
*The Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, UNILAG, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe (5th
from left), flanked by dignitaries at the maiden edition of UNILAG International Week.
Knocks for FG over
allocation to education
By Adesina Wahab and
Elizabeth Uwandu
THE Federal Government
has been criticized for the
allocation it gave the education
sector in next year’s budget, respondents
told our correspondents
that it fell short of their expectations.
Recall that President
Muhammadu Buhari last week
Tuesday presented a budget
proposal of N10.3 trillion to the
National Assembly out of which
N82 billion was allocated to
education and N112 billion
given to the Universal Basic
Education Commission, UBEC.
UBEC is an intervention
agency of the government.
It is like zero allocation
According to a lecturer in the
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Lagos,
UNILAG, Prof. Ralph
Akinfeleye, it was like the FG
prepared a zero budget for the
sector. He wondered why Nigeria
would continue to fall behind
in the treatment of education
as a critical sector.
“To me, it is like we are budgeting
zero for education. The
standard the world over is to allocate
at least 26 per cent to the
sector. This is the recommendation
of UNESCO. By my estimation,
what we have now is
even not up to 10 per cent of
the budget.
“We must be serious. Nations
that are more developed than
us are not toying with
education and here we are behaving
as if education does not
count. All the monies being recovered
here and there could
be channeled to the sector. If we
have poorly trained medical
doctors, and provide them with
the best of facilities they are not
able to use, what gain do we
have? Not to even go at least
15 per cent is not good at all.”
It will affect teaching
Another university lecturer,
Head, Department of Educational
Foundation, Olabisi
Onabanjo University, Ago
Iwoye, Prof. Taiwo Edun, said
poor funding is a great disservice
to the education sector.
“The percentage budgetary
allocation to education in Nigeria
is three times lower than
what is recommended for developing
nations by UNESCO. In
actual fact, among the nine
nations housing over half of the
world’s population and 70 percent
of the world’s illiterate
adults allocate less than 20 per
cent of their annual budget to
education.
"When there is not enough
funding for the sector, how are
we going to attract young people
to teach? We are saying
young teachers are the future
of the profession, but it may be
difficult to get the young ones
to come in,” he said.
In the same vein, the Lagos
State Chairman of the Nigeria
Union of Teachers, NUT, Otunba
Adedoyin Adesina, said with
increasing enrolment in schools
across the country, funding the
sector ought to be improved on.
“We must not fall below the
minimum level and anything
short of that is not good for the
sector. If the government is finding
funding the sector difficult,
it could launch endowment
fund. At least such funds have
been launched to help sustain
a sector like security. We must
not toy with our future,” he said.
THE reigning Most Elegant Girl in
Nigeria, Mary Ukoli, has charged the
nation’s leaders to put more efforts in the
education of the girl-child so as to speed up
the development of the country.
She stated this in Lagos when she organised
a Spelling Bee competition and debate
for some schools in Apapa and Ajegunle areas
of the state.
According to her, educating a girl would
not only reduce illiteracy and its attendant
ills, but would accelerate the development
of the nation.
She pointed out that whether it is formal or
informal education, the girl-child would
surely pass such to coming generations.
Ukoli added that even the Holy Books had
records of women who inspired the generations
that came after them, as they were
lauded for passing good legacies to their
children.
The beauty queen, who is also the founder
of the Save A Girl’s Education, SAGE, said
there was nothing too big to be invested in
the education of the girl-child.
“I have a deep passion for the education of
the girl-child. We must not relegate that to
By Adesina Wahab
THE President of the
Institute of Productivity
and Business Innovation Management,
IPBIM, Mr Remi
Dairo, has said applying the
necessary innovation into how
we do certain things in the
country can help solve the
national economic challenges
being faced now.
He stated this in Lagos during
a seminar held for some
members and prospective
members of the institute.
Dairo, who explained that
some innovation methods may
not necessarily involve application
of technology, charged Nigerians
to be innovative in
whatever they do, as doing
things the same way that have
been done for donkey years
would not yield any good results.
Dairo added that the aim of
the institute was to make people
challenge tradition and
drive them to do things differently
and be able to compete
globally.
“The institute came into being
when we noticed that some people
feel they would be seen as
productive only when they work
and begin to sweat profusely, but
in the end, nothing has
changed. For instance, being
innovative in the packaging of
a product could turn it to a market
leader. We have to devise
ingenious ways of doing things
that would make our products
acceptable globally.
“Our certification does not involve
you coming to sit for an
exam, you just have to show
how innovative you are by your
skills and we are affiliated to
similar institutes and universities
in Europe and America,” he
said.
One of the guest speakers, Mr
Olayinka Oni, opined that flexible
working hours would soon
take over the work place going
by the current trend.
Oni explained that most business
chiefs and top corporate
players agree that innovation
was crucial to them and that innovation
was not static.
He said innovation was what
made a company like Amazon
become a world leader.
Another speaker, Rufai Oseni,
charged the leadership of the
country to adopt the Singapore
model where ministers are
given targets to meet and given
incentives when they meet
them
The President of the World Innovators
Forum, Mr Axel
Schultze, commended the leadership
of the IPBIM and expressed
his support for the institute.
National devt: Why Nigeria must do more
on girl-child education — Ukoli
By Adesina Wahab
the back and whatever is committed to that is going
to pay the society back in many folds. When
a girl grows and becomes a mother, she spends
more time with the children than the father, then
you can imagine the influence she has over the
children.
“If she is well trained, that will reflect on the
society at large and many women that have held
public positions globally have done well. That
is the reason that the topic for the debate is:
Gender equality as a catalyst for development
in Nigeria, she said.
Ukoli said the presentation of motivational
video clips was also to let the girls know that they
were not too young to make positive impact in
the society and that they should not see themselves
as pushovers.
She canvassed special incentives for the promotion
of the education of the girl-child.
She also appealed to corporate bodies and philanthropists
to support the education of the girlchild.
During the competition, Topfield School came
first in both the Spelling Bee competition and
debate.
Marvir School and Rybeka Model College
came second and third in the Spelling Bee competition
and debate.
10 schools took part in the event.