Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister, has given the nod for a substantial budget of N13 billion to finance renovation, toilet construction, and furniture provision across secondary and primary schools in the territory’s six Area Councils for the upcoming fiscal year.
The announcement was made during the FCTA Education Secretariat’s end-of-year media luncheon in Abuja.
Dr. Danlami Hayyo, the mandate secretary, divulged the minister’s commitment to ensuring the comprehensive execution of these projects throughout 2024.
He said the allocated funds aim to address the specific needs of schools in each Area Council, focusing on renovations, new constructions, and providing essential furniture.
His words: “The minister of FCT, who has been described as Mr. Project, approve new constructions, renovations or rehabilitation, provision of furniture and construction of toilets in FCT secondary and primary schools to the tune of over 13 billion.
“Wike pledges that all the projects will be executed in 2024; we are not going to give details of how many schools will be renovated or constructed in each Area council of the FCT because the school needs of the Area Councils are not equal.
“There are some Area Councils where the demands are higher; there are so many dilapidated and congested classrooms. We know how the current minister of FCT changed the phase of education in Rivers state; it is the same system that he is going to do in the Federal Capital Territory, and that is why he has approved the money for the school projects.”
The Mandate Secretary also disclosed that within the last 12 months (from January -December 2023), the Education Secretariat had trained secondary education board staff in London for the British Education Training Technology show.
He also listed other training including, “International training on innovative/entrepreneurship, training of school librarians in e-library, training of teachers in Computer Based Test, online training of 80 English teachers by British council, training of 96 members of School-Based Management Committee and many more others.”