Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije

By Kunle Akogun

The Senate Committee on Education Monday warned the Federal Ministry of Education to stop spending its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) without the approval of the National Assembly.

The warning was handed down during an interactive session between the committee and officials of the ministry where the Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, defended the ministry’s budgetary allocation for 2012.

Issuing the warning, Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, stressed that it was not proper for agencies of government to spend their revenue without first getting approval from the National Assembly.

Chukwumerije also described the N400, 148, 037, 983 voted for the education sector as a far cry from the 26 per cent recommended by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

He said the total budget for the sector represents a little over nine per cent of the total National Budget proposal for the year, adding that with the present budget, much change must not be expected as achievements in the education sector.

The committee chairman noted that this posed challenges of slow pace in infrastructural development in the agencies and institutions in the education sector.

Though, this year’s allocation is an increase from that of 2011 which was N356, 495, 85,145, he noted that the increase was not enough to offer great change from last year’s achievements.