The Senate has queried the N10 billion increment in the 2016 Personnel Proposal of parastatals in the education sector as against N88.199 billion appropriated in 2015.
This followed an observation by the Chief Whip, Prof. Olusola Adeyeye, at the Budget Presentation of the Ministry of Education before the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education in Abuja on Monday.
The senate questioned why N98. 181 billion was earmarked for parastatals in the 2016 budget, while Personnel Proposals of institutions like unity schools and universities were reduced.
The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Aliyu Wamakko, expressed displeasure at a situation where schools were losing while parastatals were gaining.
He directed the ministry to return at a later date to give a better explanation on why parastatals were given priority over schools.
“We will give you time to get us detailed answer because I am not comfortable with the answer given.
“Find time and give us detailed information about this. This must be addressed carefully’’, he said.
Wammakko said the committee would not rest on its oars in ensuring that the education sector, particularly the institutions, met global education standard.
He expressed the senate’s readiness to ensure early release of funds to all the sectors to enable them implement the various projects itemised in the proposal.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs Folasade Yemi-Esan, explained that the figures presented by the ministry were submitted by the various parastatals and institutions in the ministry.
According to her, the variance in the proposals depends on the number of people enrolled in Personnel and Payment Information System (IPPIS).
“The variance depends on the number of people that still exist in IPPIS.
“So, it is an automatic thing that as people retire, the balance comes down. So, if they are not replaced by new staff, then we have this variance, it is not that we lost some money.
“This is an aggregate of all the parastatals, we will check to know which one has the increase or if there is marginal increase across board because what we have done is to put together all the parastatals.
“Having said that, this was not imposed on the different universities and the polytechnics. They were the ones that submitted their personnel cost, so it is not an imposition.
“It is what they submitted we collated. There is no loss of money here’’, she said.
Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwuka said the 2015 budget was fairly good considering the fact that 50 per cent of last year’s capital allocation was released.
He noted that N483. 666 billion was proposed for the entire education sector in 2016 as against N483. 183 appropriated in 2015.
He, however, said the increase may not have any significant effect on the challenges facing the sector.
The minister of state added that the sector was plagued with challenges ranging from late release of funds to late implementation of projects.
He said that the ministry’s goal was to transform the education sector by developing individuals into morally and academically sound, effective and skilled citizens.
“There are 21 parastatals under the purview of the ministry. There are 104 federal government colleges spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“The ministry has under its supervision, 86 federal tertiary institutions made up of 40 universities, 25 polytechnics and 21 colleges of education.’’
