Friday, November 2, 2012

Economic Council sets up committee to address decay in education

The National Economic Council has set up a committee to consider the reports by the Minister of Education on the grim and sordid nature of education in the country.
The council, in its Thursday meeting presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja mandated the committee to assess the situation and make recommendations on how to move the sector forward.
The committee which is to be chaired by the Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke  is to complete its work before the December NEC meeting which will be dedicated entirely to discussing its report.
Other members of the council include all state governors, the Central Bank Governor, Ministers of Finance, National Planning, Attorney General of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau said the Minister of Education, Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, presented a paper to the council on “Challenges of Access and Quality in Education” and a comprehensive report by the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities, both focusing on the deplorable state of education at the primary/secondary and tertiary levels respectively.
Mr Jang, who was joined at the briefing by Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) and Ibrahim Shettima (Borno) as well as the Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, said, “The grim and sordid nature of schools infrastructure, increasing number of out-of-school (OOS) children across the country, inadequate capacity of teaching staff and discouraging quality of learning as contained in the reports prompted the National Economic Council to make the following recommendation:
“The constituting of Stakeholders Committee to consider the reports, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the state of the education sector and make recommendations on how to move the sector forward.”
He said two governors from each of the six geopolitical zones in the country who represent their zones.
The North Central would be represented by the governors of Kwara and Benue States; governors of Anambra and Imo States would represent the South East; the South South will be represented by Cross River and Akwa Ibom States; the South West by Oyo and Ondo; the North East by Bauchi and Adamawa States; while governors of Kaduna and Sokoto State will represent the North West.
Mr Jang said other members of the committee include representatives of the National Assembly – Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, from the Senate and Jerry Alagbaoso, from the House of Rep, representatives of the Ministries of Education, Federal Capital Territory and Finance; representatives of Universal Basic Education Commission and Tertiary Education Trust Fund, state Commissioners for Education, representative of the Academic Staff Union of universities as well as NEC Secretariat.
The governor said the committee would complete its work before the December NEC meeting which would be dedicated entirely to discussing its report.

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