Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has averred that his administration will continue to strengthen the state’s free education policy and enhance existing programmes toward providing quality education to students in Anambra.
Soludo made this assertion while presenting the 2025 fiscal year budget of N606,991,849,118 to the Anambra State House of Assembly, in Awka, the State Capital, on Tuesday, 19th November 2024.
The 2025 budget themed “Changing Gears 2.0” with emphasis on acceleration and execution, and a 48 percent increase from the 2024 budget of N410,132,225,272, has recurrent expenditures accounting for N139.5 billion (YoY growth of 45.0%), while capital expenditure is N467.5 billion (YoY growth of 48.9%). The Capital Budget constitutes 77% of the total budget size, while recurrent expenditures account for 23% (the same ratios as for the 2024 budget). The budget deficit is estimated at N148.3 billion (24% of the budget compared to 30% in the 2024 budget).
In a release signed by Governor Soludo’s Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, the governor stated that the state will continue to provide free and qualitative education for every child in Anambra, to enable them to succeed, and pay the newly agreed operational costs for schools.
Governor Soludo stated that twenty-two (22) secondary schools will be transformed into smart schools (with many more to follow in the new year), setting a standard for what an ideal school should be, through the Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB) programme.
The state has extended its free education policy up to Senior Secondary School Year 3 (SS3) and recruited an additional 3,115 teachers, increasing the number to 8,115. It has equipped 60 secondary school laboratories with the required Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) equipment. It has also increased the operational budgets for primary and secondary schools to ensure they can deliver the quality education promised, among other initiatives.
“By 2025, we plan to make significant investments in education so that our students and teachers will smile like never before. We will also continue to support mission schools, especially the “returned mission schools.” Our subsidies to mission schools help to reduce the cost of primary and secondary education to parents in Anambra State.,” Governor Soludo affirmed.
While the 2025 budgets also dwell significantly on other key sectors, Soludo’s programmes for young citizens of the state include the expansion of the state’s ‘One-Youth-Two-Skill’s project to accommodate more youths for empowerment, and a ‘One Million Digital Tribe’ for digital skill training programme through the Solution Innovation District (SID).
Governor Soludo explained that the state will be propelled with its mantra of “Doing More with Less,” and has projected an average monthly revenue of N5 billion, which will result in a total Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N60 billion in 2025. This, he affirmed, will be increased through renewed efforts towards revenue generation capacity that will see the Anambra earning less than N10-15 billion monthly.
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