A former Director of Policy, Defence Headquarters, Major General John Nwaoga (rtd) has called on government at all levels to make enough budgetary allocations to education to cover all strata to address the challenges being faced by the sector.
Recall that the Federal Ministry of Education allocated N1.59 trillion and N953.93 billion in the recurrent and capital components of 2025 budget passed by the National Assembly last week Thursday.
Nwaoga who also served as General Officer Commanding – 3 Division Nigerian Army, made the call at the 2025 Cultural Day of Hope Jon International Academy, located in a Nasarwa State community, neighbouring the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja at the weekend.
The retired Army General also called on the government to provide a level playing ground for private schools, which were bridging the gap in education to thrive to ensure inclusivity, particularly for those who cannot access public institutions of learning.
Nwaoga who is the chairman of Hope Jon International Academy said he was motivated by the desire to give back to the society by establishing the school and urged the federal government to partner with states, local government areas and communities to provide quality education to Nigerians.
“My advice to the government at all levels is that we should make enough budgetary allocations to education to cover all strata. When you go down to the local level in some villages, you will see ramshackle, dilapidated, unfunctional old schools.
“If you go down you will find out that there are some areas today where communities are contributing money to pay teachers’ salaries. So the federal government should take it seriously, partner with the states and local and the community to have a better education.
“The government should provide a level playing ground for both public and private schools so that education can be acquired by all and sundry. The private schools came into being to bridge the gap that was created by the inclusion of all and sundry in education.
“If the government has taken over like they said education is free – at primary and secondary school level and there are schools, there are teachers and there are facilities, I am sure the private schools would die a natural death. But the private schools have covered that gap; the various areas that are not covered by government schools.
“The school (Hope Jon) came into being in 2014 , we celebrated our 10th anniversary last year and we started from a modest 70 students but it has grown to over 500 students. This school is not just a made shift or an afterthought. We took a deliberate time to prepare,” he said.
On her part, the school’s director, Hope Nwaoga said the event was to expose the students to the cultures of the six geopolitical zones as part of Hope Jon Academy to train a whole individual not just in realm of academic but other aspects of life.
“This cultural day, the aim is for understanding of cultural diversity, for all the students to imbibe with the culture of each zone and tribe. It will help the children to know the culture of other tribes and so on.
“The children are learning, this is not for just fun, they are educationally imparting and our school we don’t just teach students academically, we teach them all round education – moral, social, cultural and everything so that the children will grow up to become a whole individual,” she stated.
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