The Niger government pays down N433 million in NECO and WAEC debt.
According to the Niger state ministry of education, the state has settled its backlog obligation to organizations that organize exams with N433 million.
The West Africa Examination Council, National Examination Council, and National Business and Technical Examinations Board are all part of the organization.
The Basic Education Certificate Examination and the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies are two more.
This information was presented and the allocation for the 2023 budget was screened by the state’s commissioner of education, Hajiya Hannatu Salihu.
The presentation was given by the ministry before the education committee of the state House of Assembly.
According to her, the ministry authorized a capital budget of N7.3 billion for the basic and post-basic education sector, of which N2.2 billion, or 39% of the budget, was released.
Salihu stated that the staff cost was N1.2 billion, the overhead was N.3 billion, and that N1.6 billion and N622.4 million were released out of the N2.5 billion recurring expenditure allocated for 2022.
She disclosed that the 2022 budget was constrained by low release of funds, which affected the completion of ongoing projects, adding that allocation to the education sector was far below the 26 percent UNESCO recommendation.
She, however, said that the ministry recorded achievement in the Whole School Development Approach, capacity building training of Zonal Quantity Assurance Officers and generation of N14.8 million as IGR.
She said the ministry in collaboration with UNICEF spent N4.1 million on the implementation of back to school campaign and N2.2 million on the training of teachers on digital learning content development.
She added that N15.5 million was spent on the launching of Nigeria Learning Passport and N13.3 million on the LP-TRCN resilience training package for 675 teachers in 45 schools.
Salihu commented on the 2023 budget, saying that it appears to build on the accomplishments made in 2022 and enhance access, equity, and high-quality education in the state.
She stated that the expected capital and operating costs for 2023 total N1.5 billion, adding that the amount will be used to finish all active projects.
She continued by saying that it would also be utilized to upgrade and expand the state’s current infrastructure for basic and senior secondary education.
