Corruption, according to President Muhammadu Buhari, is jeopardizing investments made by the Federal Government.
During his speech on Tuesday at the Fourth National Summit on Reducing Corruption in the Public Sector, which was held at the State House in Abuja, Buhari refuted the notion that persistent strikes, particularly those carried out by unions in tertiary education, frequently indicate severe underfunding.
He said that those who go on long strikes for no good reason are just as guilty.
Buhari went on to say that the money given to the ministry of education is only a small portion of the total investment made by the government in the sector.
He also said that stakeholders had not given corruption in tertiary institutions’ use of domestically generated revenue the attention it deserved.
He advised stakeholders to promote transparency in educational institutions’ IGRs and their use of funds:
“How corruption undermines educational policies and investments and creates an unfriendly learning environment for our youth will be reflected at this year’s summit.
“I must say that corruption in the education system from the basic level to the tertiary level has been undermining our investment in the sector, and those who go on prolonged strikes on flimsy reasons are no less complicit,” he added. “Incessant strikes especially by unions in the tertiary education often imply that government is grossly underfunding education.”
He stated, “The 1999 Constitution places a premium on education by placing it on the Concurrent List. This lays the responsibilities of budgeting and underwriting quality education on both the Federal and State Governments.”