We will license more private higher institutions—Education Minister

The renewed efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari led federal government to reinvent the educational sector through strategic initiatives, aimed at entrenching   quality manpower development, for global competitiveness and all inclusive growth, were laid bare by the Honourable Minister of State for Education, Honourable Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, on October 11, at a Breakfast meeting organized by the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.

The breakfast meeting with a theme “Investment Opportunities in the Nigerian Educational Sector” coincided withthe International Day of the Girl-Child which was themed “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.”

The Minister who was ably represented by Muna Onuzo, his Special Assistant on Strategy Planning and Development, stated that  the ministry’s overall objectives are built  in “a ten-point area as part of its Ministerial Strategic Plan 2020, MSP 2020 that will ensure Nigeria sees a marked improvement in the following areas; reduction of out-of-school children, adult literacy, quality and result in teacher development and engagement, an expanded science, technical and vocational education among others and a sustainable process of monitoring and evaluation that will deliver on this agenda”

Below was the Minister’s speech

Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen of the press, all protocols duly observed. I am profoundly delighted to be invited as a special guest of honour to speak on this auspicious occasion. Especially today the 11th of October 2019 being the International Day of the Girl-Child with the theme – GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.

Today, the Federal Government of Nigeria stands with the world to address the challenges facing the Girl-child by working in partnership with the private sector and Global Partners on Education GPE. These partnerships have helped to identify and isolate the problems and provide sustainable and targeted solutions that uphold the rights of the Girl-child.

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Education is poised to do all it can to press forward and propagate this agenda of empowerment and enablement through sensitization and activating sustainable solutions that result in improved literacy, and visible reduction in the issues that surround our children’s education.

To buttress this point, the Federal Government has liberalized education and is poised to license more private universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. This opportunity has created an enabling investment-ready environment for new investors to come and invest in the education sector.

Education is gold to any economy and teachers are the workmen who mine and refine this treasure. In today’s highly integrated digital world, teachers are expected to be digitally complaint to enable them to impact the same knowledge to the young children under their care.

To ensure that the education sector is investment ready, the Federal Government as a matter of urgency has initiated laudable intervention programs that upskill our teachers and equip them with the right tools to deliver the quality of education that is at par with the international community.

 The Ministry of Education intends to change this narrative by prioritizing ICT training for teachers as a critical tool in National ICT education. This new approach starts with upgrading the Teachers and then the Training Institutes and Colleges of Education to world-class ICT training centres. This training will take care of the ICT skills need of all new teachers being churned out into the education sector by these centres of education.

To further show the Federal Government’s commitment to teacher development, we announced during the World’s Teachers Day the Ministry’s intention to take out life insurance for every teacher in Nigeria to the tune of N1,000,000 for teachers and N1,500,000 for science teachers to encourage more Nigerians to join the vocation.

The Federal Government is also making every effort to link University research with the industrial sector so that research findings can be commercialized to create jobs. This partnership will elevate the ranking of our tertiary institutions, attract research grants that will support scientific breakthroughs in health, agriculture and technology and also encourage international partnership with other Universities in research and development.

The Federal Government is also making efforts to develop technical education. Consequently, The Federal Government will establish more Federal Science and Technical Colleges. Notably, in the states that do not have any. A total of 16 new Science and Technical Colleges have been identified in this regard. The Federal Government is, therefore, calling on the private sector both at home and abroad to invest in science and technical education, especially in the areas of equipment.

The Nigerian Government is equally worried about the sheer number of out-of-school children and the number of adult illiteracy currently prevalent in Nigeria. Recent statistics from UNICEF show that of every five of the world’s out-of-school children, Nigeria has one in five. Even though officially, primary education is free and compulsory, about 10.5 million Nigerian children aged 5-14 years are currently not in school.  This issue is point one in the MSP 2020 agenda, and as a nation, we committed in our resolve to tackle this problem.

This issue of out-of-school children is not just a government problem. It should be the common problem of both the private and public sectors. It is the belief of Government that the private sector can also play a role in this regard to significantly decrease the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria by 2020.

The Ministry of Education welcomes the support and partnership of the private sector in funding a sustainable and realistic project model to enumerate currently enrolled children, get out-of-school children (OOSC) back to school and increase the retention of those in school.

The recent economic challenges in Nigeria has further put pressure on parents to either discourage the children from going to school or use them as economic helpers to ensure there is food on the table for the family. To this end, we have laid out strategic plans to provide a lasting solution to this unhealthy trend of having millions of Nigerian children out-of-school due to economic, cultural or religious reasons.

I cannot conclude this speech without calling on Trade Unions in the University sub-sector to maintain the peace and by necessary implication, a stable and peaceful education environment that promotes a quality standard of learning, abhors violence and unprofessional conducts. 

As we welcome more private sector-led and GPE investors in the Nigerian education sector, The Federal Government is using this opportunity to appeal to university lecturers to shun embarking on strike actions as this has severely dented the image of Nigerian higher institutions. As a result of this, International students now shun Nigerian universities due to perceived instability in the academic calendar in our university and dilapidated hostel accommodations.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that our work in this dispensation brings back the glory of our institutions, upgrade our infrastructure to meet international standards thereby attracting international students to be enrolled in our Universities and upskill our teachers to promote the image of institutions of excellence as it was initially meant to be.

Finally, on behalf of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I thank you all for this opportunity and platform to deliberate on encouraging investment opportunities in Nigeria.

I especially want to thank the organizers of this event, and I encourage well-meaning Nigerians and the private sector to work with us to achieve these laudable projects.

Thank you.