Ahead of the presentation of the Taraba State annual budget, the Taraba Progressive Frontiers Forum has issued a strongly worded public statement calling on the state government and members of the State House of Assembly to prioritise significant investment in education infrastructure, particularly in rural and underserved communities that continue to bear the heaviest burden of educational neglect. The statement, which was widely circulated across social media platforms and presented at a press conference in Jalingo, drew on data from recent community assessments conducted by TPFF across several local government areas. The findings painted a deeply troubling picture of the state of education in Taraba State, including alarming numbers of out-of-school children — particularly girls — crumbling and dangerous school buildings, chronic shortages of qualified teachers in rural schools, near-total absence of functional libraries and science laboratories, and inadequate sanitation facilities that disproportionately affect female students. TPFF’s statement called on the government to allocate no less than 26% of the state budget to education in line with international benchmarks, establish an emergency school rehabilitation fund, develop a comprehensive teacher recruitment and retention strategy for rural schools, and introduce targeted scholarship programmes for girls and children from low-income households. The Forum also called on the federal government, international development partners, and the private sector to complement state government efforts through targeted education investment programmes. TPFF has pledged to engage lawmakers directly through its legislative advocacy programme to ensure that the education sector receives the priority it deserves in the upcoming budget cycle.
