The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Acting Education Secretary, Leremo Abdulrazaq, has said the influx of people daily into the FCT has made it difficult to realize accessible and quality education.
He stated this when members of the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education For All (CSACEFA) paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
Abdulrazaq said a city that was originally planned for two million people now hosts more than five million and still counting without corresponding increase in revenue.
While noting the challenges bedevilling the sector, he said the budgetary provision for education in the FCT fluctuates, sometimes higher than UNESCO’S standard of 21 per cent and lower at other times.
Earlier, the FCT Focal person of CSACEFA, Abdullahi Sale, urged stakeholders in education to join their voices with those of over one billion people across the globe to ask the government to increase funding of public education to make it qualitative, accountable, accessible and affordable.
Sale also demanded that there should be a more robust interaction between the education secretariat and CSACEFA to take major decisions concerning education in the FCT, saying they are partners in progress and cannot be sidelined.
In his response, Abdulrazaq assured the coalition that his doors are open to all those that want to contribute meaningfully to education.
He enjoined civil society groups and other experts to put forward their solutions as government alone cannot do it.