Nigerian elections in 2019: are promises made?

The Nigerian Law on Universal Basic Education, pbaded in 1999, stipulated that the government should provide six years of free primary education. Students must complete an additional three years of lower secondary education, which is not funded by the state.

It is not mentioned that boys and girls should be educated in equal numbers, but currently, across Nigeria, more boys are going to school than girls – for nine girls at the school. school, there are 10 boys.

Particular emphasis is often placed on increasing the number of women enrolled.

The United Nations Educational Organization, UNESCO, defines acceptable parity between men and women between 98 and 102 women per 100 men enrolled in school.

According to the 2016 National Education Indicators, less than one in three states has acceptable gender parity ratios at the primary level. In lower secondary education, the number drops to nine, and in upper secondary, it falls further into three states.

The Ekiti State gets the best results after reaching parity at all levels of education.

The state of Katsina has the greatest disparity at all levels in terms of the number of students. More than 170,000 additional boys are enrolled in primary education compared to girls. more than 43,000 more boys than girls in lower secondary and nearly 44,500 more boys than girls in upper secondary.

However, expressed as a percentage of the total enrolled student population, Zamfara State is the worst. At all levels of education, the number of male students is twice that of female students. The quality of education that these students receive is also an issue to consider. According to the 2015 Nigerian Education Data Survey (Neds), 44 percent of government-funded primary school students could read and 74 percent of private elementary school students. At the junior level, these numbers increased to 91% and 96%, respectively.

President Buhari is committed to devote 15% of the national budget to education. Yet his record suggests that there is still much to be done to reach this figure.

In 2016, his administration devoted 8% of the budget to education and in 2017, this amount fell to 7.4%. This figure now represents 7% of the national budget, a little more than 650 billion naira (1.8 billion dollars). To reach the targeted 15% of the national budget, the president should more than double the current budget to reach 1.3 billion naira, or cut spending elsewhere.