By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, on Thursday disclosed that President Bola Tinubu administration has set aside N120 billion to boost the nation’s educational sector.
The Minister who who made the disclosure during Ministerial briefing by in Abuja, said the intervention initiative will commence between May and June 2025.
According to him, the initiative has become necessary as many tertiary institutions are churning out graduates with skills that are are not in tune with present demands.
The Minister explained that students who had graduated with skills not immediately needed in Nigeria will be retrained.
“Almost N120 Billion that the President has approved for us to move his agenda forward. This T-BET program will be launched probably in the month of May. At the latest, the first half of June of this year. We are also putting a lot of renewed emphasis on STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medical Services.
“Today, our universities are training a lot of our children with new life skills. So, we’re refocusing our education in tertiary schools to focus on areas of need.”
The Minister also pointed out that Nigeria has one of the highest burden of second highest number of children that are out of school in the world.
He said the government has evolved strategies to clearly and meticulously address the problems in the sector, and that of the 15 million people that are out of school, 40-50% of them are never in the area of school, 25% of them are drop-out and 25% of them belong to the Almagiri category.
“And there’s argument back and forth if the Almajiris are really out of school because they go to school, but they’re just not getting western education. We have a strategy on how to take numeracy, literacy, and vocational skills to these Nigerians.”
The Minister also disclosed that Nigeria presently has six million out of school young female out of the 20 million population of adolescent girls in Nigeria, ranging from the ages of 12 and 19.
“We’ve come up with a clear agenda on the Nigerian education sector initiative. We’ve clear strategic goals, which is moving a nation from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. We have that capacity.”
He said, 70% of Nigeria’s population are below the ages of 30 years, and that the government needs to equip them with the skills that they need.
“And that’s what we’re doing exactly at the Ministry of Education. To move a country from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. Clear strategic goals to reduce the number of out-of-school children, reduce learning poverty, increase skills and human capital development.
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“Equitable access to basic education, that includes increased level of literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking with skills. Reducing the burden of out-of-school children and integrating these kids into formal education. Giving them formal education.
“And beyond formal education, giving them life skills for them to be able to be useful to themselves, to the community they live, to the country and the world at large. Second pillar, increased quality of education and learning outcomes. And the third pillar, strengthening governance and management in our education system”, he added.
