By  Dirisu Yakubu

ABUJA–In its bid to revitalize the education sector in the implementation of its change agenda; the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education recently convened a 3-Day Task Team Implementation Status meeting in Abuja.

The aim was to review, evaluate and examine the level of progress so far made in the execution of the 2016 Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) projects and programmes across the country. The meeting was also geared towards identifying gaps, challenges and hard-nosed recommendations to reposition the education sector as a major driver of growth and development in the country.

In her goodwill message, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on SDGs and former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, reiterated the importance of education to the Muhammadu Buhari administration, noting that government is going the whole hog in the realization of Goal 4 (SDG-4) which is to  “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

In the words of the SSA, “the SDG-4  is transformative and universal, attends to the unfinished business of the Education For All (EFA) goals and the education related MDGs 2 and 3,” while also addressing “global and national education challenges.”

Aware of the importance of a functioning system in the pursuit of lofty goals of this nature, the Presidential aide told the impressive audience that the 2030 target date for the realization of the global SDGs would be a mere dream if the education sector in Nigeria is not fixed to meet the challenges of the times.

“For Nigeria to attain SDGs by 2030,” she stated, “there must be a functional education system that is accessible by all and responsive to the requirements of the 21stcentury skills,” adding that SDG-4 and its objective must be captured in the national education policy and planning.

To walk the same path with the rest of the world in the pursuit of this goal, Orelope-Adefulire highlighted some preconditions which must be met, if only for the country and her teeming citizens to heave a sigh of relief on or before 2030.

According to the SDGs’ boss, gone are the days when government shoulders the responsibility of “doing it alone,” stressing that all hands must come on deck to push through the total overhauling of the education sector, especially in the area of funding and teachers’ training. “There must be effective and inclusive Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for resources mobilization for adequate financing of education.

There must be access to more reliable, accurate, timely and disaggregated data, review of existing curricula frameworks, teaching and learning contents, pedagogy, teacher training and professional development as well as school leadership and management,” she said.

On what her office is doing to ensure Nigeria does not lag behind like she did with the MDGs, the ex-deputy governor said a good number of Nigerian youths would benefit from the SDGs office partnership with some international organizations in the sphere of training.

“The present administration through my office in collaboration with Google/MindtheGap Foundation has proposed the digital training of 100, 000 youths in Nigeria towards sustainable development,” she said, adding that the SDGs’ Office would also “focus on improving quality education and promoting learning outcomes, through multi-level partnerships by ensuring provision of infrastructural facilities, conducive learning environment where teachers are empowered, adequately recruited and well-trained; review of curriculum content and   resource mobilization through private sector collaboration and partnership.”

As it were, the education ministry through the instrumentality of Management By Objective (MBO) is working round the clock for optimal use of resources with emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness. For the first time in many years, the ministry is blocking leakages, ensuring value for money in projects implementation and execution.

Accordingly, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan told education correspondents at the meeting that service delivery with no room for wastage has been the campaign of the ministry in the present epoch. “Beneficiaries are advised to prioritize SDGs projects and programmes in line with the released funds,” she said, noting that despite “inadequate fund releases and the economic recession, the Ministry has resolved to remain focused, make effective use of available funds and not entertain issues of uncompleted or abandoned projects by the end of the fiscal year.”

And in what appeared a warning on the danger of poor job execution, the scribe said the federal parliament would request a detailed report from the education ministry information on the 2016 SDGs projects from conception to completion as part of the latter’s oversight function in a democratic setting. “To further authenticate the claims of your presentations, the Ministry will also embark on monitoring and evaluation of the projects and programmes in the sector,” warned Yemi-Esan who added that appropriate sanctions should not be ruled out in the event of the establishment of breaches and infractions.

Similarly, Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwukah in his keynote address at the occasion described the meeting as historic, saying the review of the implementation of the projects would keep the ministry abreast of the pressing issues that need to be tackled squarely. While calling on beneficiaries to be transparent in their conduct, Professor Anwukah noted the importance incumbent administration accords the education sector.

“The present administration holds education as one of its flagship sectors in its effort at improving school effectiveness, learning outcomes as well as lifelong education. It therefore allocated the highest budget of N396.6 billion in the 2016 fiscal year to education to ensure the delivery of quality education,” stated the Minister who like the Permanent Secretary, also emphasized the imperative of judicious utilization of funds.

The Federal Ministry of Education by this initiative has successfully bought into government’s campaign of a new order which emphasizes the conduct of business in a transparent ambience. Education stakeholders opine at the meeting that the various ministries need to take a clue from what their education counterpart is doing in this regard.

A total sum of N5.4 billion was allocated to SDGs programmes in the 2016 budget with approximately N1.6 billion of this sum, slated for monitoring and evaluation.