Lawmaker asks FG to declare state of emergency on school infrastructure

Julius Ihonvbere, chairman, house of representatives committee on basic education, says the federal government should declare a state of emergency on school infrastructure across the country.

Ihonvbere spoke on Thursday at a national education summit organised by Human Development Initiatives (HDI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

The summit, held in Abuja, was themed ‘Building Qualitative, Inclusive and Adaptive Education System: Meeting Modern Day Education Challenges in Nigeria’.

The lawmaker said policy inconsistency, poor funding and inadequate basic facilities were major challenges in the education sector.

He bemoaned state governments’ failure to use their Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grants.

“There is a problem of absence of policy consistency and even when we have good policies, there is very limited follow-up and at times poor funding of those programmes so that they would have deep root and consistency and replication within the system. There is a weak administrative system in our schools,” he said.

“We want an emergency to be declared on school infrastructure. The children are schooling under very dangerous buildings.

“Also, people who manage the schools themselves need to be reeducated. There is a need for special programmes to bring teachers and instructors into the digital age. You cannot teach what you don’t have or know.”

In her remarks, Olufunsho Owasanoye, HDI’s executive director, said education is everyone’s responsibility.

“In our own little corner, we have to look for the strategies to move education to the next level,” she said.

“COVID has changed so many things, so we need to change our value system and our orientation. Education doesn’t have to be within the four walls of the classroom because everything is about technology now.”