Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Delta State, said on Monday that Nigeria needs to expand the boundaries of its revenue collection in order to address the financing difficulties that are impeding the country’s educational progress.
Okowa revealed this in an interview with journalists shortly after examining facilities at the University of Delta (UNIDEL), Agbor’s Owa-Alero Campus’s Faculties of Engineering and Environmental Sciences.
He noted that there is no doubt that the country needs to invest more money in education in terms of infrastructure, human resources, and needed equipment, as well as guaranteeing that all universities in the country have full internet access.
He believes that funding the country’s educational system is critical, but that the country’s economy is struggling.
He said “If you look at the national budget and most of the state budgets, you will find out that both the federal and state governments are actually struggling through.
“When you have so many competing forces to deal with in an annual budget, you just try to put little funds across here and there.
“Because, in the first instance, you have to ensure that you pay salaries and if at the end of the payment of salaries you have little left, then it is a major problem.
“Whenever I studied the budget of the federal government, l feel very worried about the huge challenge we have as a nation because you find out that every single kobo that is actually going into infrastructural development or capital development is actually borrowed.
“So, when all your resource that is available outside borrowing goes into recurrent expenditure, there is a huge problem.
“And that is why if you actually study the budget in full at the federal level, what you tend to see is that in the individual sector such as education and health, you have very huge funds available for recurrent expenditure because of payment of salaries.”
The Governor stressed the need for the nation to find a way to reprioritise its priorities by beginning to look at the sectors that should be given greater attention.
“I think it requires a lot of work and a lot of prioritization to actually deal with the sectors that are most important.
On the level of work so far executed at the Faculties of Engineering and Environmental Sciences at the Owa-Alero Campus of UNIDEL, he noted that work had progressed, adding that it was his hope that the work should progress a little faster”I think the work we are seeing here has actually progressed considerably because the last time we came here, the work was at DPC level”But it is still my hope that work can progress a little faster so that l can bring this to an end.
“Looking at my back, we have some of the engineering equipment already supplied and we are hoping that we will be able to install them by the time the workshops and studios are completed.
While saying that the two faculties have been accredited by the National University Commission (NUC), the governor disclosed that lectures had since commenced in the campus.
