….Distributes 10,000 textbooks to 5,000 students
Bernice Larryoboh
The All-Progressive Congress, Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has expressed pleasure and concurrence with the statement credited to President Bola Tinubu that proper funding of education remains a top priority of his government.
The Federal lawmaker, represented by his senior Legislative aide, Hon. Bunmi Oguntuase made this known in Aramoko Ekiti, Ekiti West Local Government Area, on Monday, while distributing 10,000 textbooks to 5,000 students across 50 secondary schools the local councils in his Senatorial district.
The law maker maintained that Tinubu’s friendly posture to education would complement the position being espoused by Senator Godswill Akpabio-led Senate that the sector must be funded properly to benefit Nigeria.
The Senate leader assured Nigerians that the 10th Senate will strive hard to facilitate improved budgetary funding for education sector so as to reverse the decadence necessitated by poor funding of education in the country,
He however, lamented over recurrent federal government’s negation of the 26% prescribed by UNESCO as budgetary funding to the sector, describing this as the greatest undoing of education in the country.
According to him, “Education remains a leveler between the children of the rich and poor in any society. It is the most potent instrument we can use to combat poverty and insecurity. This has been the position of President Tinubu and the current Senate.
“The major focus of the Akpabio-led Senate is to ensure that the sector is properly funded. No country can advance beyond the level of its available human resources and the only way our human resources can be polished and made productive, is through qualitative education.
“So, the current Senate won’t compromise on adequate budgetary funding for education. No nation jokes with education and witness economic advancement. It is the major impetus to bolster radical development in any developing economy like ours.
“We are also happy that President Tinubu had demonstrated his love for the sector by signing the Students’ Loan into law. This gave an inkling into how desirous he is to fund education”.
Furthermore, he commended Governor Biodun Oyebanji for his commitment to reposition education in Ekiti via recruitment of adequate manpower to strengthen the sector as he has recruited over 3,000 teachers into primary and secondary schools in Ekiti State.