The Ekiti State Government has approved the disbursement of N1,179,235,500.00 as running grants for primary and secondary schools, as well as Technical Colleges, and the three Government Special Schools in the state for the 2024/2025 academic session.
The State Commissioner for Information, Rt. Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun disclosed this during a media briefing in Ado-Ekiti, where he gave a comprehensive breakdown of the state’s recent education spending under the current administration.
“The Ekiti State Government is set to expend a total of N1,179,235,500.00 as running grants for Primary and Secondary Schools, Technical Colleges, and the three Government Special Schools in the State for the 2024/2025 session alone,” he stated.
Breakdown of running grants
According to the State Commissioner, the total allocation for the upcoming session is distributed as follows:
- Public Secondary Schools: N602,356,500
- Primary Schools: N381,258,000
- Technical Colleges: N10,737,000
- Government Special Schools: N15,407,000 monthly for feeding and maintenance
Renovations and constructions
Olatunbosun highlighted some of the Government’s interventions in public secondary schools in the State to include:
- Renovation of 1,135 classrooms
- Construction of 83 classrooms
- Construction and renovation of 696 toilets
- Drilling and rehabilitation of 40 boreholes
- Renovation of 18 libraries
- 105 equipped science laboratories
- 67 multipurpose halls
- Fencing of 46 school premises
- Procurement of 2,978 units of school furniture and instructional materials
More funding
The Commissioner also disclosed that the state has invested N11,306,760,012.54 in the renovation and construction of infrastructure in 203 public secondary schools through the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE).
He also revealed that the state government paid N6,154,879,897.36 in counterpart funding to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to support projects in 927 public primary schools across the state for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Additionally:
- N16,388,047.77 was spent on continuous assessment documents for public secondary schools.
- N174,032,505.00 went toward instructional materials for primary schools.
More insights
According to the state government, the three government-owned special schools in the state are now supported with monthly running grants of over N15 million, used for feeding and maintenance.
The state has also hired professional therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists to deliver specialised support services to children with disabilities.
The Commissioner issued a stern warning to public school principals and head-teachers, cautioning against corruption, mismanagement, and misrepresentation of school conditions.
He noted that it would be wrong for anybody to misrepresent issues under any guise to possibly attract donations from individuals, groups of people, philanthropists, or associations without consideration of the unjustifiable effect on the image of the Government.
Olatunbosun called on residents, community leaders, and civil society groups to join hands in safeguarding public infrastructure and ensuring sustainability.
He stressed that government investment alone is not enough, and that communities must support efforts to preserve educational facilities.
