Hon. Ifeanyichukwu Ibezi has called for the release of the take-off grant for the Nnamdi Azikiwe Unuversity, Awka. He was speaking today, October 22, 2019 during the 2020 joint budget hearing of the Senate and House of Representatives’ Committee on Tertiary Education which had the Ministry of Education and the agencies under it, insisting that the university is yet to receive its take off grant since inception, 28 years ago.
The committees commended the Ministry of Education for its 2030 Education initiatives and strategic work plan aimed at improving the quality of education in the country. However, members of the committee frowned at the paltry budget allocation for the Education ministry, noting that Education forms a bedrock for the nation's development and that it will be difficult to get the quality of education needed with such a low budget.
In his response, Mallam Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education pleaded with the joint committee and National Assembly to use it's Constitutional powers to compel the Executive arm of the Government to reserve at least 15% of the nation's total budget for education both at federal and state Levels. The budget defence session continues tomorrow with tertiary institutions appearing before the committees.