Niger to spend 50% of 2025 budget on education, health

The Niger State Government has disclosed that it would spend over 50 per cent of its 2025 budget on education and health.

The state governor, Mohammed Bago, gave the assurance on Wednesday during the symbolic distribution of kitchen utensils to boarding schools and classroom furniture at the Educational Resource Centres, Minna.

Bago further disclosed that N1.8 billion has been earmarked as a matching grant to the Universal Basic Education Commission, stressing that his administration was committed to the timely payment of counterpart funds to support educational projects in the State.

The governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Abubakar Usman, said, “About half of the 2025 budget will go to the Education and Health sectors. N1.8 billion has been earmarked as a matching grant to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

“My administration is committed to the timely payment of counterpart funds to support educational projects in the state. Through our partnership with the World Bank Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) programme, we intend to expand access to education for girl-child and renovate 534 schools across the state.

“Also, given the importance of technical and vocational education, the sum of N1.512 billion was earmarked for the complete renovation and equipping of technical schools in Suleja,” the governor said.

While enumerating the achievements recorded on education by his administration, the governor emphasised that his priority is to ensure that access to quality education is provided from the basic to the tertiary level.

He commended the Ministry for Basic and Secondary Education as well as all critical stakeholders for their support in revamping the education sector in the State, urging them not to relent in their efforts.

The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Hadiza Mohammed, described the distribution of kitchen utensils as a significant step in the collective effort to enhance education in the state.

She disclosed that the state presently has 43 active boarding schools under the government’s direct feeding programme which, she said, includes 34 conventional boarding schools and eight integrated Quranic Education Schools, with a total of 9,382 students.

She noted that the number was expected to rise to 12,000 in the coming 2024/2025 academic session.

Some of the Kitchen utensils distributed include 5,000 litre capacity of Water storage tanks, Frying pans, Plastic drums, Grinding machines, Cooking pots and plastic, trays, buckets, serving spoons, big coolers and turning sticks.

Others are chopping boards, mortar and pestles, torch lights, kitchen knives, perforated cooking spoons, iron basins, student plates, measuring jugs, Fire stands and big Student food warmers among others.