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IMPROVING GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN PRIMARY AND JUNIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

IMPROVING GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN PRIMARY AND JUNIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

SACEThe USAID Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement Project in collaboration with Human Development Initiatives (HDI) alongside other cluster members (CSOs), namely: Grassroot Health Organization of Nigeria (GHON), Youth Child Support Initiative (YCSI), Patriotic Citizen Initiatives (PCI), The WellBeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), Development Measures (DM) and Out-of-School Children Empowerment Foundation (OSCEF) have initiated a project in the area of Local Governance and Education to enhance quality, effective and accessible primary and junior secondary education at the Local Government level in Nigeria.

This is in recognition of the fact that Child Rights Act (CRA) 2003 and Universal Basic Education Act (UBE) 2004 make education from primary to junior secondary school a right. The main objective of the UBE is to enhance quality of education in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of basic education remains worrisome. This is attributed to weak governance structure, corruption, inadequate facilities in form of physical structures, instructional materials, quality teachers, unwillingness and inability of the local governments to oversight primary education, weak CSOs engagement on educational related issues, lack of adherence to key universal Principle of Local Governance/Government amongst other factors.

The project is aimed at interrogating issues surrounding funding and application of fund for basic education, provision of basic infrastructure in primary and junior secondary schools viz. desk, chairs, books, learning aids, libraries and other areas of intervention on behalf of the selected schools to ensure improved service delivery, and also support selected communities to demand accountability and governance surrounding basic education.

The project locations are as follows:

  • North-West- Kano state (Gwale LGA and Garun Mallam LGA)
  • South-East – Enugu state (Enugu North LGA and Nkanu West LGA)
  • South-West – Lagos state (Lagos Mainland LGA and Ibeju Lekki LGA)
  • Federal Capital Territory (FCT, Abuja) (Gwagwalada Area Council and Abuja Municipal Council)

 It is expected that the project will improve educational development at the grassroots level particularly in terms of quality, effective and accessible primary and junior secondary education, and also increased CSOs and community networks capacity to engage and demand good local governance from state actors at the local government levels.