Declining Fortune of Education in Rivers State

Declining Fortune of Education in Rivers State

By TONY ITA ETIM, PORT HARCOURT

In 2010 Rivers State was honoured as one of the best states in Nigeria for its implementation of the Universal Basic Education Policy. In fact the state won an award as the best State Universal Basic Education Board in the South South geo-political zone. The state got about N400 million for this feat. With this achievement the educational sector of the state is expected to go from glory to glory but today the reverse seems to be the case. The leadership of the state appears to have been carried away by this achievement and might have assumed that all is well with the educational sector of the state. Since 2010 there is a steady decline in sectoral allocation to the education in the state whereas capital expenditure in the state budgets since then has been on the increase.

A review of the state budget since 2011 shows that in the year 2011 the budget was N415.1billion.  In 2012 the budget appropriation was raised to N438 billion while in 2013 the state budgetary estimates, according to Amaechi ‘‘we are proposing an aggregate Budget of N490.32 billion for the year 2013. The proposed budget is N52.32 billion higher than N438 billion Appropriation of the out-going fiscal year. This translates to a 11.95% increase in the budget volume for 2013.‘‘ This review shows a steady increase in budgetary estimates in the state.

A sectoral analysis shows that in 2011 N100.93 was appropriated to the social sector but only N29.65 billion was actually spent on this sector. In 2012, the Social Sector was allocated N100.10 billion but actually gotN48.50 billion. And in 2013, the budget estimates for the sector dropped to N64.50, one wonders how much would actually be spent on this sector this year when taking into consideration actual amount that were released for this sector in the previous years.

The education subsector will be the focus of this analysis because of the much talked about achievements of the Amaechi’s administration in this sector and the fact that the state is classified as one of the educationally disadvantaged states in Nigeria. Also taking into consideration UNESCO recommendation that, at least 26 per cent of budget appropriation should be given into the educational subsector if any government is committed to improve the standard and quality of education to its citizenry. Rivers State is the largest producer of oil and gas in Nigeria and this translates into the state being the highest receiver of allocation from the Nigerian Government Federation Account. This analysis is to measure the administration’s commitment to education as well as assessing the adequacy of the budgets to international conventions. Moreover, the poorest of the poor (in the state) are most affected by budget cuts, having no other alternative to public services like Education.

Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Executive Governor of Rivers State, in 2011, has boasted to the State House of Assembly “As you are aware, Rivers State was adjudged the best in UBE implementation in the country. This could not have been possible without our investment in school infrastructure. We plan to deepen our gains in education. We are raising the level of education in our state to make our children have access to the best standards and to make them competitive globally. Our effort in this regard is well known. As you know, primary and secondary education is free in the state. We shall continue to provide for undergraduates and postgraduate scholarships to Canada and other parts of Europe including the United Kingdom. Government will continue to sponsor our children to Singapore and India for ICT training. We have a Bursary and Scholarship programme for our sons and daughters in higher institutions in the country.

Agreed that budgetary estimates or allocation is one thing the most important issue is what is actually release at the end of the day. Amaechi, himself, confirmed this fear while reviewing the 2012 budget, according to the governor “the bulk of our provision in 2011 were in the areas of Education. N67.93 billion was provided out of which Nll.20 billion was spent as at September 2011 translating to 21.98% Budget performance. Regrettably, construction work at most of the primary school sites did not meet the pace envisaged and therefore, not much releases were done in this respect as payments were based on milestones achieved. In spite of this, our effort in rebuilding our education system attracted a reward and recognition from the Federal Government. Rivers State was  adjudged the best in UBE implementation in the Country. We got a monetary reward of N400milion for this achievement.”

In 2012, the budgetary estimates for education dropped from N67.9 billion to N64 billion. Presenting the 2013 budget estimates to the State House of Assembly, Amaechi admitted this  “In the year under review, this sub sector received N18.25billion out of N64 billion budgeted. We made significant progress at rebuilding our Schools infrastructure. Education remains free at the primary and secondary levels.”

Despite, the shortfall in allocation to the education sector, Amaechi enumerated his administration plans for this sector, “We continued with the construction of 24 model secondary schools.  Nne Krukrubo Model Secondary School at Eleme is concluding its admission process and normal academic activities is commencing in January 2013. We are vigorously pursuing the construction of the remaining Model Primary Schools earmarked for completion. We sustained our yearly overseas and local scholarship awards. We have also improved facilities at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and the Rivers State University of Science and Technology despite challenging situations in the institutions.”

In the 2013 budget, allocation to the educational sector dropped from N64 billion to N47 billion. Despite the shortfall or declining budgetary allocation to education, Amaechi insists, “We will continue to sustain and improve on our Free Education Programme (Primary and Secondary levels). Full academic activities in some of our Model Secondary Schools will commence in 2013. Management of these Model Schools is already outsourced to an Indian Firm. The Ambassador Nne Krurubo Model Secondary School at Eleme will be operational in January, 2013 as admission processes will soon be concluded.

“We have concluded the construction of our Vocational Training Institute to address skill gaps amongst our youth. The institute would be managed by a German team.  An agreement with the team to manage the centre for 6 years will soon be signed. Our Technical Colleges will be receiving financial and technical assistance from the World Bank supported SEEFOR project to improve learning outcomes and skills acquired. These efforts are aimed at increasing opportunities for employment for our youth.

 “The new RSUST  Campus project is on course. We will continue to improve infrastructure and learning conditions at RSUST, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and other tertiary institutions in the State. More of the model primary schools will be completed in the coming year. We are implementing Free Primary and Secondary Education. Our yearly overseas and local scholarship awards will be sustained in 2013. The sum of N47.81 billion is allocated to this sub sector.”

Budget estimates or allocation shows where government priorities lies and this cannot be far from the truth when the Rivers State 2012 budget estimates and implementation are examined.  The state administration which has made a lot of hype about its investment or transformation in the educational sector ‘has not put her money where her mouth is.’ The state government releases only N18 billion out of the N64 billion that was estimated for the education sector in 2012. Rather under Road and Transport sector, the government “provided N60 billion with an actual appropriation of N46.32 billion as at the end November,” 2012. This shows where government priority lies in a state that is tagged “Educationally disadvantaged” by the Federal Ministry of Education. While budgetary allocation to education continues to dwindle yearly, pupil enrolment in Public Primary School and Junior Secondary School increased yearly. According to Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Dr. Richard Ofuru ( addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt last year) “the gross enrolment rate for the primary schools between 2000 and 2011 was 88.9 per cent which translates to 244,268 children and that the rate increased to 90.01 per cent between 2011 and 2012, translating to 258, 785 children. And “the rate for the Junior Secondary School during the same period was 79.3 per cent and 84.02 per cent for the Senior Secondary School, adding that the transition rate from Junior Secondary School to Senior Secondary School stood at 96.03 per cent.”

Allwell Onyeso, former Commissioner of Sport during the administration of Dr. Peter Odili, and currently, Chairman, Rivers State Post Primary School Board, lamented the lack of classrooms and teachers in the state school system. Addressing principals of secondary schools in the state on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 in Port Harcourt, Onyeso lamented that the absence of teachers in secondary schools have placed the state education in the hands of members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC. According to him, secondary schools in the urban areas are over staffed while those in the rural areas area understaffed and announced that there would be massive transfer of transfer to areas where there are shortages. This absence of teachers might have influenced the state government plan to recruit about 13,000 teachers this year to improve the staffing of public schools in the state; and according to the governor, provision has been made for this under Recurrent Expenditure in the 2013 budget. A recruitment examination for teachers was conducted in September last year but the result has not been made public hence no employment and the pupils are in their second term.

Besides, shortage of teachers, the state secondary school system is also suffering from lack of classrooms, according to Onyeso, out of 245 secondary schools in the state there only functional 100 classrooms while there are about 4400 classroom in the system that are not fit for effective learning and teaching. He explained that the state government plan to renovate public schools include expansion of the number of classroom, ICT, laboratories, library and instructional materials.

Amaechi administration inherited 1077 primary schools and some of these schools were merged and the number came to 868. The governor had promised to build new 750 new primary schools in the state before the end of his first term in office which ended May 29, 2011. As at today most of these model primary schools are yet to be completed.