 The financing of education is at the heart of the educational crisis in many countries of the world. And Nigeria is not excluded. There appears to be a parallel crisis of funding and lack of definite structures and strategies in funding of education in Nigeria. The challenges of Nigerian education sector in general and its funding in particular could be traced to policy and strategy instability and inconsistency in efficiency and management. However, it's therefore important to prioritize education and educational transformation from the grassroots. The current administration must also understand the difference between the education that builds and education that manages. Joining us to discuss this is Stella Ulubumi, France's state coordinator civil society action, coalition of education for all Lagos state chapter. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. I think that we're having this conversation at the right time where you have a new government on board. We already understand the crisis that the educational sector has been faced with over the years. What exactly do you think should be done by this administration in tackling the incessant strike action by ASU? Well, for us as a coalition, we are so much interested in having an inclusive and equitable and quality education for all Nigerian citizens, all Nigerian children, and we advocate for increase in the financing of education. We are all aware that a lot of times there is crisis, there is a strike at the tertiary level, mainly because there are agitations for lecturers' increments in the salary. Some infrastructures in the universities are catered for. They are not in the best of state. So to tackle this, we will definitely advise and advocate to the federal government, led by our new president, President Tinumbu, to ensure that at the national level, there is an increase in budgetary allocations to education. Currently, we have about a single-digit percentage for education budgets at the national level, especially to increase this, so that the incessant strikes by our lecturers will be curtailed, and our children will go to university, and their four years will be four years, and there will not be an endless occurrence of strikes at the tertiary level. Well, some other pundits, I mean those who are experts have suggested that there is a need to change the structure of funding of higher education in Nigeria. You know that the government has complained, the federal government said we don't have funds, there is no money. A lot of people are saying that it's time for full autonomy to be granted to universities. Do you really agree with this school of thought, and if you have a reason to agree, then you tell us the why? Well, personally, I don't agree with granting full autonomy to the universities. We already have private universities that are catering for the high and mighty. The low class and the middle class have only access to these federal universities, which comes at a lower rate. Given autonomy to university will eventually lead to hike in school fees, which students may not be able to afford. I reckon with the fact that federal government just recently, I think 24 hours ago, signed the students loan bill, which... Oh, so we're hoping that we have Stella Lubbimi connect with us, sharing her thoughts on financing education. What a time to talk about the educational sector in Nigeria, especially where you have the strikes going on, infrastructural issues have always plagued high institutions, including almost all the sectors. If you look at the primary sector, you look at the tertiary. But I'm being told that we have a guest back. Stella, once again, thank you for joining us. Thank you. So you were talking about the student loan and the importance of it to you. I think you were agreeing to that part. But some people think that this is actually not a solution. It doesn't even solve half of the problem. It will probably just make the people more indebted to government, especially when you look at the ratio of unemployment as at this moment. And if you juxtapose it with the student loan, then some people think that, yes, it looks very brilliant, but this is totally not a solution to financing of education in Nigeria. You probably didn't hear me at the point because I was saying there are gaps in that loan. There are so much gaps because there are assumptions that once a student graduates and serves, there is automatic employment waiting for him or her, which is not the case. And then saying that if you default, you go to two years imprisonment, criminalising debts, defaulting is just a no-no. So it's going to further impoverish our students. And to me, we have to look into this. I would rather think of giving students grants or scholarships rather than asking them to go on loans and the rest. We have a girl that graduated about four years ago that has not been able to get a job, and eventually went on to go for masters and opt in that doesn't have a job. What do you do in that kind of scenario? In a scenario where there are strikes and a four year turns to six years, what does a student doing that does he or she continue to get impoverished by accumulating debts? All those are the things that our law makers must look into to ensure that this thing... Well, I mean, I wish we had a smooth connection tonight. However, the big question again is if the government cannot fund the educational sector or if we're saying funding the higher institution, it's something that the government cannot. On the other hand, it is expected that there will be change in structure, allow the universities to be in control, full autonomy, be granted to universities, so they can manage the affairs of the universities. And if you say, so I was asking, I'm going to ask you this question now because we'll have to co-stand in no time. So if you're saying that, the government on one hand is saying we cannot fund universities. We lack what it takes to fund. There are no resources. On the other hand, you have people who are arguing that we should allow universities to be autonomous. I mean, grant them some autonomy so they are able to manage their affairs, generate revenue and run the university. And that's not the case then. What then is the solution to funding education in Nigeria? Well, education is the right of every citizen of this country. Education is the right of every citizen in this country and our governments do their utmost. If giving autonomy to a university will jeopardise access and equity for our children, then giving autonomy does not make any sense. What if it is going to make the schools more effective and then give the students access at reasonable cost then as a coalition we are in for it. What we don't subscribe to is taking education out of the reach of the poor and the masses. That is what we don't subscribe to as a coalition. So what exactly is your postulation to the solution of funding education then? Well, actually as a coalition we are mostly into basic education and as Sakefa Lagos we follow the trend in Lagos. We follow the trend in Lagos. We see what the Lagos State Government is doing but we felt they could still do more as a state. We felt there is needs to increase the budget. There has been an incremental, gradual increase in the state budget of Lagos State but we still believe that there is need to increase it further because we still have a lot of issues, a lot of issues of lack of furniture, lack of toilet facilities. Some schools are dilapidated especially in the rural areas. There are still some issues out of school especially for the girl child and that is one of the reasons why we feel Lagos State Government in particular because we are in Lagos, Sakefa Lagos is in Lagos. We believe that Lagos State Government should go a step further by increasing the percentage a little more, at least something close to the UNICEF standard of 26%. Currently I think Lagos State is about 11%. We are hoping that they will be able to put in more funds to monitor the out of school, to put machinery in place to monitor out of school to ensure that there are enough furniture there are enough schools in the rural areas for the girl child and the marginalized to attend. Those are the basic things that we are advocating for in Lagos State and by extension Nigeria. This is a point where we have to let it go at this particular time. Thank you so much for Luba Mi, Stella for being part of the conversation. Thank you. I said on the show tonight, thank you so much for making our time to be with us in plus politics. I am messy bopol. Have a good evening.