Niger Gov Decries Continued Decline in Quality of Products from Nigeria’s Educational System

Niger Gov Decries Continued Decline in Quality of Products from Nigeria’s Educational System

By Laleye Dipo

The Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has decried what he described as the “continued decline in the quality of products from the nation’s educational system despite huge investments by governments in the sector”.

Bello made the remarks in a message he sent to the flag-off of the 2017/2018 Quality Assurance Training for Directors and Education Secretaries in the 25 local government areas of the state, emphasising the urgent need for the situation to be redressed.

The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso, said: “There is an urgent need for major stakeholders to come up with practicable ways to improve the standard of our education system as it relates to quality in delivery of free, compulsory basic education in Nigeria

“Quality assurance managers of our education system must be given due attention so that we can sustain the gains we have so far

“If we must achieve our overall target for education through creation of a purposeful and sustainable system, then we must pay due attention to manpower of the education system to drive quality and competitiveness in the system.”

Bello disclosed that his administration has ensured the payment of N7 billion 2013-2019 outstanding counterpart fund to the Universal Basic Education Commission which has allowed the state to intervene in the provision of critical infrastructure for the education sector.

“Our intervention has been instrumental to the resuscitation of the near collapse of our education infrastructure across the state.

“We have also been able to improve on the infrastructural materials while enhancing the capacity of our educational managers particularly the teachers in order to meet the contemporary challenges of our educational needs,” he said.

In an address, the Executive Secretary of the National Basic Education Commission, Dr Halibu Boboye, directed all states of the federation to immediately commence the programme because, it is the key to achieving improved standard of education in the country.

Boboye, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), Dr Mansir Idris, said a team to monitor teaching and learning in schools across the country has been established, adding that the policy will lead to the repositioning of the educational sector for greater performance in the country .

The Niger State Chairman of the Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Isah Adamu, said: “To ease the challenges faced by the field Quality Assurance Officers at the zonal level, the Board has procured and distributed 17 Bajaj motorcycles for continuous quality assurance monitoring, five laptops, desktops, photocopiers and UPS for report writing.

In addition Adamu said a Hilux van was purchased for continuous quality assurance monitoring at the Board’s headquarters.

The training has as its theme “Effective School Evaluation: Panacea for Improving Learning Outcomes and Strengthening of the School System”.

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