Protocols,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be invited to this Conference organized by the ABU Zaria Faculty of Education with the theme: RESOURCE MOBILIZATION, MANAGEMENT FOR ACCESS AND QUALITY EDUCATION IN AFRICA.
2. This topic is apt today because Africa and indeed Africans and their governments face serious challenges in the development of our educational system which do not provide qualitative and easily accessible education for its teeming youths. As a result, qualified human capital remain scarce compared to the Continent's developmental needs and this situation hampers growth and undermines the foundation for sustainable development.
3. For many African countries, aid is critical to meet the "Education for All and Millenium Development Goals". External financing is therefore always an important component of overall investment in education, even when many developing countries' governments have dedicated significant portions of their national budgets to the education sector.
4. This is why the efforts of ABU Faculty of Education are commendable in gathering resource persons at this conference to brain storm on how adequate resources can be mobilized and managed to enhance access to quality education in Africa. It is hoped that the outcome of the paper presentations here will look critically at the resource constraints that continue to hamper a large number of African Countries which do not have the financial or technical means to extend quality basic education to every child in the continent.
5. Apart from the lack of skills to manage available scarce resources, the Conference needs to look at other issues such as the increasing youth population in low income countries, the global financial crises, impact of climate change and commodity speculations which exacerbate these challenges and put enormous pressure on governments to fulfill the basic needs and services to their people.
6. In Nigeria, while the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Education has put in place several interventionist policies and programmes to transform the sector, we must look beyond its efforts to achieve the required standard. This is to say that no effort should be spared in sourcing and managing more resources from conglomerate business concerns and tycoons, public spirited individuals, and international organizations.
7. We have witnessed for example, what the World Bank has done in Africa to support Tertiary education through analytic work, investment credits, strategic learning and partnership development. It has also released funds in lending programmes to countries such as Ethiopia, Mauritania, Uganda and Mozambique. In Nigeria, the World Bank has developed State Education Program Investment Project with two components worth 150 million dollars.
8. In the same vein, UNESCO and NEPAD support many financial and non-financial education programmes in Nigeria to elevate our educational standards and access. In spite of these, the educational challenges facing our country are daunting. Some 42 % or roughly 10.5 million primary age children are out of school and children who attend are struggling to learn basic literacy and numeracy. This has resulted in one of the highest adult illiteracy in the world.
9. I therefore urge you all to beam your searchlights to all possibilities that will position Africa in general and Nigeria in particular to easy access to financial and other resources that are properly managed for the future of qualitative education in the continent.
10. I thank you for your kind attention.
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria