..Says Nigeria Cannot Grow and Prosper When Investment in Our Future is Weak
By Lola Seriki-Idahosa, Kaduna
Tracereporters –The Beta Nigeria campaign has advocate for improved investment in education as it engaged the media, Civil Society organizations, private sector and several stakeholders on a roundtable to advance the course of improved investment in the education sector in Nigeria.
Beta Nigeria, Coalition Partnership believes that the best thing that can happen to Nigeria, especially at this challenging time in the country’s history is the conscious and strategic increased investment in education.
Speaking to Journalists shortly after the roundtable in Kaduna, the Federal Lead, Abdulraman Badamasi, said the Beta Nigeria campaign involves citizens, like the CSOs. Media organizations, private Sector and other varied stakeholders coming together to campaign for improved investment in education.
According to him, ”when we say improved investment, we are looking or seeing education as an investment in Nigeria’s future, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be money, but can also be time and intellectual commitment and so on; so that’s what Beta Nigeria is looking at and that’s why we convened a roundtable meeting.
”So this roundtable meeting is meant to bring stakeholders like you, the media, civil society, the Private sector to come and speak about what Beta Nigeria is all about and to also enjoin them to be part of Beta Nigeria campaign” he stressed.
He said, the campaign, is in its ‘exploratory stage’, of engaging the potential stakeholders, and see the passion and commitment to continue the project, before coming back for the formal launch of the campaign.
He said though the campaign has a national outlook ” for now, we are looking at Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa and Abuja FCT, but it’s a national campaign” he added.
While describing the outcome of the meeting, ”I think am impressed with the turn-out in Kaduna, it was high beyond what our expectation is, you know Kaduna is regarded as the centre of learning, you have a lot of illustrious institutions here both in the academic and vocational sector, even the military sector where you have the NDA, so I was not surprise to see the number of participants and the quality of people that participated in these conversations” he added
On the challenges of out of school children and insecurity, he noted that efforts would be geared to see that the security agencies, service providers, government at all levels, work tirelessly to address insecurity to ensure that the investment in education is secured for Nigeria’s future.
”So our message is that education is the best thing that can happen to Nigeria and education will secure the future of Nigeria, because we face some crises and education is the best solution to these crises” he asserts.
The roundtable brought together a diverse range of organizations working in education, including the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), The Aid Foundation, CSO Accountability platforms, representative from various Schools and the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning Empowerment (AGILE).
Participants engaged in discussions on critical issues affecting education in the region.
By fostering media engagement and public awareness, Bëtá Nigeria aims to corral, align and support a broader network of organisations beyond traditional CSOs to increase demand for education reform.
The movement will continue to call for action that enhances educational prospects in Nigeria, aspiring to ensure that every Nigerian child goes to school, stays in school and receives a good quality education. Beta Nigeria receives funding support from UK government
Beta Nigeria mission is to get every Nigerian child into school, staying in school and receiving a good quality education.
To foster collaboration, Beta Nigeria has already launched a series of roundtable discussions in Jigawa, Kano. The brief discussions focus on education reform, specifically what needs to change to make education a stronger investment in Nigeria’s future, and how we can work together to achieve these goals.
The Abuja, Kaduna discussion was held on Monday, March 25th, 10:00 am at Rimi College, Kaduna.
