News: NUT urges Buhari ro use recovered loot to feed pupils

The Nigeria Union of Teachers has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy money recovered from looters in financing a feeding programme for pupils in public schools.

Buhari had promised to feed schoolchildren during his campaign.

However, more than six months after his inauguration as President, the promise has yet to materialize, prompting questions on how the Buhari-led administration would source funds to finance the project.

The NUT President, Mr. Michael Alogba-Olukoya, on Wednesday argued that recent revelations that certain public officials had started returning stolen wealth was a pointer that the promise could still be fulfilled.

According to him, the government should use the recovered loot to service public education and restore social services.

Alogba-Olukoya said, “The position of the NUT is that the President should continue to sweep all the mess so that Nigeria can return to a position of reckoning in the comity of nations. There is the need to restore confidence in public education in the country. There should be no sacred cow. President Buhari should not forget to feed children attending public schools. Get the money back and use it to feed children of the poor.”

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UNICEF tasks communities on early childhood education

TO bridge the gap between   early childhood education development  in urban cities and  rural areas in Oyo State, the  Education Officer, United Nations International  Children Education Fund  (UNICEF), Mrs.  Justina  Onifade, has called on community  leaders and residents  in all the 33 local government areas  of Oyo State to support early childhood education programmes  in their communities.

She also urged lawmakers at local, state and federal levels to key into the early childhood education programme for its sustenance in their communities.

Mrs Onifade  made  this appeal at  a  one-day stakeholders meeting  on early childhood education in Oyo State, organised by the Universal Basic  Education  Board  in collaboration with UNICEF B-Field  Office, Lagos,  at Wallan Hotel, Ibadan.

According to her, it has  become obvious that government will need community residents’ assistance in  the development process of pre- primary school  programme in their localities.

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Her words: “ It has become imperative for Oyo State government  to comply with the improved school system   of one year pre- primary school programme in the  country. Pre-primary school education  is a national programme  in the country whereby every  child’s education process, from age two and five, irrespective of their backgrounds, takes off before they proceed to primary school. This  new educational system, which is being   introduced in government schools, will afford children the opportunity of knowing the importance of schooling and what its entails before   starting primary school education.

“Recent survey conducted in Oyo State revealed that  there are many of these children across  villages in the state who are still with their mothers, constituting nuisance in the communities,  instead of being in school as their counterparts in urban centres.  This is appealing to lawmakers, philanthropists, at home and abroad  who are indigenes  of the communities to support the development of this  school in their areas. UNICEF  will want the state government to replicate its effort in early childhood education development in the state.”

Speaking earlier, the Permanent  Secretary, State Universal Basic Education Board, Mr. Yinka Osuntogun, represented  by Mrs Lucy  Eniola, the Director, Social  Mobilisation and Information Communication Technology of the board, stated that pre-primary school  programme is a necessity in the Nigerian  education system, stressing that Oyo State government  would  ensure the development and sustenance of the programme in the state.


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