Lagos education budget bigger than some states’ yearly budgets, says Sanwo- Olu

• State trains 2,500 women on vocational skills • Says empowerment reduces domestic violence, tensions

LAGOS State Governor, Babajide Sanwo- Olu, yesterday, said that critical investment in education sector was aimed at ensuring students in the state receive quality education in a conducive and friendly environment.

He said that the yearly budget for the state Ministry of Education is bigger than the total budget of some states in Nigeria.

Sanwo- Olu, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, at the 2022 equal education summit organised by the ministry and the Office of Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, disclosed that the education ministry got N133.5 billion in 2020, N146.9 billion in 2021 and N173.5 billion in 2022, which are bigger than the entire budgets of some states.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, said that about

MN23.62 billion had been spent on just physical infrastructure in the last three years in the state.

She said the state needs to increase private sector collaboration and support for the education sector because government funding alone cannot meet all the needs. EANWHILE, the state government, yesterday, said that it had empowered about 2,500 women across 10 locations in the state with 250 of them parents of outof- school children.

It said that when women are economically empowered, there is less tension in the home and obvious reduction in domestic violence.

Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Cecilia BolajiDada, stated this during the closing ceremony of the short- term skills acquisition programme organised by the ministry for parents of out- of- school children and women across the state.