The Chairman of the People Democratic Party in Lagos State, Engr. Adedeji Doherty has criticized the amount allocated to education in the 2020 budget for Lagos State. In a statement released on Tuesday, Doherty said the amount allocated for education is just too small that Lagosians won’t even feel the presence of government in the educational sector considering the huge population of students in schools.
In a budget of over 1 Trillion passed recently by the Lagos State House of Assembly, the education Sector only got N48b naira.
Doherty said: “while I acknowledged the slight increase from the previous year, this budget should have addressed some critical burning issues like teachers’ welfare and training, classroom equipping and repairs to dilapidated school buildings in the rural Lagos area like Badore,Lakowe, Igando etc and some suburban areas like Alimosho, Agege and Ifako Ijaiye”. “The Governor should know that the fastest way to destroy the next generation is by neglecting education.
Instead of following the UNESCO recommendation of 15-20% of a states annual budget allocated to education, what he has done is to allocate 4.5% in the 2020 budget.
Engr. Doherty also said the PDP in Lagos State as a major opposition party will not sit idle and watch the APC led government continue run the state aground by increasing the debt of the state without the expected accompanying development.
He recalled that under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, former governor Fashola’s APC Administration was granted a world bank loan of about $40 million dollars tagged Eko Project. This money had since been spent with no impact on the sector.
Doherty assured Lagosians that a PDP led Government in Lagos state would definitely pass a bill in the Hoise of Assembly putting the Educational Sector on a ‘State of Emergency’ list among other areas of concern in the state.
