Coalition Group to Govt, Cut Cost of Governance, Channel More Resources on Education
By Daniel Agada, Jos
A Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), Plateau State chapter, has called on governments at all levels to cut down cost of governance and channel more resources on education sector.
The coalition group said with the removal of fuel subsidy, the large chunck of resources, preserved should channeled towards providing a better and qualitative education.
Speaking to newsmen in Jos the state capital Wednesday, to mark Global Action Week for Education (GAWE), Duke Ogbureke, National Moderator CSACEFA, cited that the age long predicament bedeviling Nigeria educational sector is not resources but lack of political will to finance education.
Ogbureke said “investing in a just world: decolonizing education financing now” is the slogan for the year 2023, noting that Nigeria is spending more on debt servicing than investing on education.
According to him, countries must finance education, and must do so using the maximum available resources, which include current internal (GDP, taxes, loans) and external (international cooperation), as well as those that could be potentially mobilized through progressive tax reform and other reforms.
“GAWE 2023 insist that governments and the international community must priorities global action on tax loopholes, agreement on a global asset register, the reduction of illicit financial flows, unfair trade taxation, action on tax havens and promoting a process for setting fair global tax rules.
“Established specific goals with respect to the percentage of educational investment going to the 40℅ and 20℅ of families with lowest income, to those living in rural or distant areas, children with disabilities or vulnerable.
“Increase the proportion of such aid going to education to 15℅ to 20℅ of total ODA and allocate these to the countries where the need is greatest.
” Support action on debt relief, restructuring, and in some cases, cancelation, for any countries spending more on debt servicing than education.
“We urged the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the World Bank and other International financial institutions to remove existing austerity measures, recommendations and obstacles such as public sector wage constraints that discourage increase spending on teachers salaries,” the moderator stated.
