UNICEF praises Enugu’s education spending and offers deeper partnership
UNICEF has commended Enugu State for allocating more than 33 per cent of its budget to education for three consecutive fiscal years. The agency’s country representative said the investment could support expanded cooperation in education, child nutrition and healthcare, while Governor Peter Mbah outlined the state’s wider human-development plans.
UNICEF has commended the Enugu State Government for allocating more than 33 per cent of its budget to education over three fiscal years and offered to strengthen cooperation with the state in human development. UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative Wafaa Saeed made the remarks on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to Governor Peter Mbah at the Government House in Enugu. She said the state’s education allocation was well above UNICEF’s recommended range of 15 to 20 per cent and represented a strong prioritisation of the sector.
Saeed said UNICEF was ready to use its global knowledge, experience and technical expertise to deepen work with Enugu in education, child nutrition, healthcare and related areas. She described investment in education as an investment in the future of the state’s children and said the organisation wanted to help scale up and sustain interventions. She added that developments in Enugu could offer an example of how investment in children and human development might contribute to Africa’s future.
According to her, the proposed partnership would extend beyond social services to broader investment and development. Mbah said Enugu wanted a practical partnership that would help it design and implement social-sector programmes while avoiding unnecessary trial and error. He said human development was central to his administration’s agenda and that economic growth could not be sustained if social services were neglected.
The governor said the state had developed a 10-year education plan to equip children with skills relevant to the modern economy. He also cited early-childhood screening, nutritional assessments and the location of smart schools in rural communities as part of efforts to improve access and readiness for formal education. Mbah said the state used data and measurable indicators to assess its programmes, while acknowledging the need for continued improvement.
He also identified rural healthcare, including efforts addressing infant and maternal mortality, as an area requiring significant transformation.
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