Govt alone cannot fund education in Nigeria – Senate

The Senate Joint Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary) and Health on Monday in Abuja called for increased private sector participation in the education sector.

Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Aliyu Wamakko made the call during a public hearing to investigate the outbreak of epidemic which affected 39 students and led to the death of three students of Queens College, Lagos in 2017.

He said: “It is so sad that we believe that government alone should take full responsibility of education in the country.

“The society particularly the private sector has a role to play to make the education sector grow.

“All hands must be on deck to ensure that we get the necessary facilities and policies to move the education sector forward.

“We don’t want to wait for someone to solve the problems for us in the name of government.”

Earlier, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Olajide Idris, said that the outbreak of the epidemic which led to the death of the students, was caused by contaminated water.

According to him, result from laboratory investigations on blood and stool samples of some affected students showed that the organisms came from contaminated water.

He also said that the school hostels and toilets were not in good conditions.

Idris, however, said that the committee recommended treatment of all water points and replacement of water treatment plant in the college.