The Niger State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Hajiya Fatima Madugu, says the Cambridge University in the United Kingdom (UK) had trained 100 teachers in the state.
Madugu said this on Wednesday while defending the ministry’s 2017 budget proposal at the State House of Assembly in Minna.
She said the state paid N89million for the training as part of its efforts to transform the educational sector.
“The teachers were trained on the quality of instruction they will give to their pupils in their classes and modern teaching technologies.
“’We are trying to transform the existing educational practice in Niger by creating an educational system that is efficient with modern facilities and equipment,’’ she said.
The commissioner added that the ministry had hired consultants to identify the problems and challenges facing education in the state.
“They are still working on the report and about to submit the draft which we will go through and make any amendment and input before the final report is ready,’’ she said.
She said that the ministry’s budget performance for 2016 was 44 per cent, adding that the 2017 budget would focus on rehabilitation and renovation of more schools in the state.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Education, Science and Technology, Bako Alfa, and his members cautioned the ministry against reckless spending.
The committee particularly frowned at the N174 million the ministry spent to engage consultants to transform the educational sector.
It wondered if the ministry lacked technocrats and experts who could do the job of the consultants to save cost given the state’s dwindling revenue base.
