[afro-nets] We must increase our funding on education!

["Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima" <dabesaki@yahoo.com>]

We must increase our funding on education!
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CEO of DLB Concerns a Lagos based private sector organisation, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs has called for increased investment on education for sustainable national development. He made the call while presenting his keynote address at the second Nigerian Youth Leadership Summit held in Enugu under the auspices of Development Partnership International. 
   
According to him, education is the corner stone of any development and the education of the youth is the stone at the corner. ?Huge investments in education must therefore have overriding priority in the derivative principles of state policy for any society that seeks to develop.? Speaking on Youth Leadership towards better health and sustainable development, Chief Lulu-Briggs wondered what kind of leadership is being expected from youth who are illiterate and half literate in some cases. He underscored the importance of education to economic growth, drawing antecedence to countries like Finland and South Korea who have made huge returns on investment on education. 
   
Although the UNESCO bench mark for investment in education is 26 percent of annual national budget, he noted that considering the huge challenges and pressing needs of developing countries like Nigeria, a minimum of 13 percent of the national budget for education will be a good starting point. He expressed regret over Nigeria?s freefall from GDP per capita $1,000 to $390 in the last 25 years and its current rating below Bangladesh and Haiti on the Human Development Index.
   
While commending the federal government for its achievements through the reform programme, he called for effective and purposeful leadership that will ensure that the vision, will and achievements made through the reforms are sustained. He identified Nigeria?s debt servicing obligation at 5 percent of GDP, which was 3 times the budget for education and 9 times the Public health budget, as having been a major challenge to sustainable development planning. In a country with 75 percent illiteracy rate with an all high 3.8 million people living with HIV, TB and Malaria rates increasing as a result of poor health infrastructure, availability of drugs and environmental factors.
   
Media Contacts: For full text of Chief Lulu-Briggs? presentation, please contact: Ms. Juliet Ogbua phone: +234 84 751 002 email: mailto:dpi@developmentpartnership.org  or visit http://www.developmentpartnership.org for more information.
   
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima 
Director,Development Partnership International
4 Eleme/Onne Road off Eleme Junction, 
Port Harcourt 500001 NIGERIA 

http://www.developmentpartnership.org 
mailto:dabesaki@developmentpartnership.org 
Phone: +234 84 751 002 
Fax:     +234 84 751 002 
Mobile: +234 805 518 2526 

Co-Founder, Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS 
http://www.youthaidscoalition.org dabesaki@youthaidscoalition.org