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The Federal Government has decried the appalling state of education in Nigeria and vowed that the education sector must take a new leaf in the country, under the watch of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mammam, SAN, who stated this while receiving the final report of the Roadmap for the Development of the Education Sector from the eight-man committee, said he, like other Nigerians, is angry at the state of education in Nigeria after 63 years of independence from the colonial administration.
Mamman, who noted that inadequate funding has been one of the major challenges of the sector over time, also vowed to ensure prudent utilisation of resources allocated to the sector.
He said he was glad to hear from the chairman of the committee, Dr. Nuru Yakubu, during his presentation that the roadmap is practical, problem-solving, and realistic.
The Minister vowed that days of mere talking in the education sector are over, adding that it is now time for action.
The committee, which was set up by Mamman on September 5, 2023, was given six weeks to come up with a clear road map and framework that will guide the ministry in the next four years to achieve its goals.
While receiving the report, the minister said the ministry would establish a mechanism for the full implementation of the report as well as set up a Monitoring and Evaluation Committee to give the ministers of education periodic reports.
He said this would ensure the ministry is on track to achieve its goals.
“The days of talking are over; this is the time to act and do what is right. The report is going to be unveiled so that the whole country will be aware of our plans to take education to its rightful place,” he said.
Mamman maintained that the Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, and himself were unhappy about the state of education in the country, saying they were more than ever determined to show Nigerians that they meant business in restoring sanity to the sector.
“I and my colleagues are also unhappy Nigerians, and I feel this country has not achieved what it should have achieved in the last 63 years. I am very angry about that.
“Some of us have benefited from what was good in this country now that we have this opportunity. I don’t see any reason why we should not achieve what we have yearned for and cried out for all these years. So, we want to transfer this anger into something good we have desired these years.
”I want to assure you that we mean business with what has to be done. The strategies, guidelines, and activities presented in this report will be followed,” he stated.
He warned directors and staff of the ministry against foot-dragging, noting that the roadmap would not be a cosmetic one as President Bola Tinubu is committed to fixing education in line with his renewed hope agenda.
The Minister also challenges education institutions in the country to ensure that value is added to their certificates.
“We’ve been criticised in the education sector for giving Nigerians certificates that don’t add value and make our graduates inactive. We will be challenging everybody, from basic education to tertiary, to add value to their certificates,” he said.
Earlier, while presenting the report, the chairman of the committee, Dr Nuru Yakubu, said he was convinced that the document would make a difference in the education sector in Nigeria.
He revealed that the committee had reviewed past ministerial strategic plans, including high-level documents on policies and past reports in the ministry, adding that it had identified gaps and adopted areas to align with the objectives of the present government.
Nuru said the report was also presented at a one-day national stakeholder workshop held recently in Abuja, where stakeholders from the sector contributed to enriching the report and expressed satisfaction that the document would make a difference in the sector.
He explained that the strategic plan of action has 13 thematic areas, which include out-of-school children, basic and senior secondary education, girl-child education, youth and adult literacy, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM).
Others are entrepreneurship education, curriculum and policy matters, capacity building and professional development, teacher education, tertiary education and student support services, education data and planning, ICT education, and library services.
“We have incorporated the Ministerial Performance Bond into presidential priorities and deliverables 2023–2027 under the appropriate thematic areas, with a special focus on out-of-school children, girl-child education, skills, and entrepreneurial education,” he said.
