The Minister of Education is primarily responsible for coordinating the formulation of national policies and guidelines for uniform standards, collecting and collating data for planning, financing, and ensuring quality control at all levels of education in Nigeria. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the National Policy on Education, among other things, make this clear.
The president appoints ministers, and those individuals are in charge of leading the ministry as a whole. The Permanent Secretary of the ministry assists him/her in this capacity.
According to the current government’s preference, the position of Minister of Education is more of a political appointment. Ministers undergo the same ups and downs as governments.
There have been 51 ministers of education in Nigeria since the country’s independence in 1960.
“In 1988, the Federal Ministry of Education was established in Nigeria with the mission of using education as a tool for fostering the development of all Nigerian citizens to their full potentials, in the promotion of a strong… sovereign nation under God.”
In addition to Professor Anthony Anwuka, President Buhari appointed Mallam Adamu Adamu as Minister of Education in his administration. Originally from Bauchi State, Mallam Adamu studied accounting at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria. In addition to all of that, he’s a well-known author and public analyst. As a public commentator, Mallam Adamu was frequently praised for his style and intelligence. Many people praised his courage, education, and lack of fear in expressing his views and those of others both locally and internationally.
While he served as Solomon Lar’s assistant, he also served as a member of the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP).
Many people believe that the president’s choice to appoint Adamu to this position was influenced by his longtime allegiance to President Buhari. He accompanied General Buhari to Bauchi State during the 2007 elections to support then-ANPP governor’s candidate Isa Yuguda as one of General Buhari’s aides. As of the time of writing, he is still serving as the country’s education minister.
Profile of the Minister of Education
Chartered Accountant Mallam Adamu Adamu (born May 25, 1954) is a Nigerian accountant and journalist who currently serves as the Minister of Education in Nigeria.
He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria with a degree in accounting. A few years after that, he graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism with a master’s in journalism. He is fluent in Hausa, English, Farsi, Persian, Arabic, and French, as well as has a good command of Hausa.
Adamu worked as an accountant in Bauchi, Nigeria, for a few months after graduating before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. Since his first job with the New Nigerian Newspapers as a Special Correspondent and member of the editorial board of the New Nigerian group of newspapers, he has been a public analyst and writer on an array of topics. He was promoted to the positions of Deputy Editor and Chairman of the Editorial Board at the New Nigerian newspaper. Media Trust’s back-page columnist [Friday Column] Adamu has also contributed to several news outlets, including Crescent International, in Canada and the United States. Adamu also served as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, General Muhammadu Buhari, when he was in office. He was a member of Muhammadu Buhari’s APC Presidential Transition Committee before becoming a minister in 2015.
President Muhammadu Buhari first appointed Adamu as Minister of Education on November 11, 2015, along with 35 other individuals. As a result of President Buhari’s second term, on August 21, 2019, the Senate voted to reappoint him.
Duties, Functions & Responsibilities of the Minister of Education
1) Coordination of Other Educational Agencies and Parastatals
It is the responsibility and function of the Minister of Education to ensure that educational matters are coordinated by other educational agencies like the NUC, JAMB, NBTE and the likes saddled with the responsibilities of regulating activities of higher institutions. Nigeria’s education Minister is tasked with ensuring that all efforts are properly coordinated to achieve the desired outcome of a flourishing educational system.
2) Data Collection and Management for Financial Planning in Higher Education
Occasionally, they conduct research to determine which areas of education need to be addressed most urgently. They can use this information to estimate the cost of a given project.
3) Oversee the creation of educational policy.
The Minister of education may be the most qualified individual to guide educational policy. The minister ensures that policies are such that they address the difficulties the Nigerian educational system faces right from the start of policy formulation.
4) Approves the Formulation of Curriculum and Syllabus Development
Formal education necessitates a well-planned activity of learning that spans the entire training period. Curricula and syllabuses are the compass and compass that guide all schools in the country’s educational activities. It’s the responsibility of the Minister of Education to put them in place. The Inspectorate department services, a subunit of the Ministry of Education, is responsible for ensuring that all schools in the country employ qualified hands, capable of taking a variety of courses and subjects, to ensure that high-quality education is delivered. There are also teaching aids like good labs available to help students learn. It is necessary to gather the information that is required to plan or determine the allocation of educational funds. The Ministry of Education was the first to draw attention to the lack of educational opportunities for girls. Girl child education in Nigeria has been transformed by this campaign. Aside from the ministry’s statistics, budgetary allocations are also based on this information.
The federal minister of education is in charge of standardizing educational procedures across the country, even though the ministry of education has offices in every state of the federation. As a result, while each state’s offices operate independently, they don’t differ in the way things are done.
5) First Point of Contact
Either the minister of education goes to discuss national interests bordering on education by himself or sends a delegate, a competent and high-profile member of the ministry to represent him. Nigeria has a national policy on education, which has a policy thrust that is captured in the mission statement of the ministry, as stated in the first paragraph of this article. The ministry’s actions are guided by policies, and this ensures that we get the expected results.
In addition to the registration fee that must be paid to the federal government before schools can officially open and begin operations, privately-owned institutions such as primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions pay the federal government yearly in additional remunerations.
6) Limit Nigeria’s illiteracy Challenge
Nigeria has more than 10 million illiterate people. The reduction of the global illiterate population is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that is targeted for completion by 2020. Education for nomadic herdsmen and the free primary education policy of the Federal Ministry of Education is encouraging adults to consider adult education and adult learning opportunities.
7) Regulation and Supervision of Other Regulatory Bodies
He regulates functions with ministry parastatals such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abuja, the National Board for Technical and Vocational Education (NBTE), Kaduna, the National Commission for Colleges of Education, Abuja, the Universal Basic Education Commission, Abuja, Federal Scholarship Board, and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
8) Provision of Federal Scholarships
For the less fortunate, the Minister of Education works to provide federal scholarships that allow students to travel abroad to learn about other cultures and gain valuable experience that will benefit them and the country as a whole. This in the long run help to ensure Nigeria’s participation in the global information and communication technology (ICT) space is effective.
All eyes are on the minister of education at all times. He keeps tabs on what’s going on around the world in terms of new developments in computer and communication technology.
The Minister of Education also assists in putting Nigeria’s educational system in a position to take advantage of the most recent developments in information and communication technology.
9) Establish National Educational Standards and Make Them Uniform Throughout The Country
It is the responsibility of the Minister of Education to make certain that all six geopolitical regions of the country have equal access to education. A well-balanced distribution of human and material resources is how they accomplish this. Keeping one geopolitical region from appearing more educated than the other is the goal here.
10) Using The Department Of Inspection To Ensure That High-Quality Education Is Available Throughout Nigeria
It’s one thing to have access to education; it’s quite another to neglect quality assurance to the point of having no access at all. The minister of education has put in place a structure to ensure that quality education is dispersed throughout the country.
11) Ensure that Education Policies Across the Country are Aligned
Each state in Nigeria has its education ministry because of the country’s federal structure. To avoid conflict, the minister of education must ensure that state government policies do not conflict with those laid out by the federal government.
12) Developing Curricula and Syllabuses for Schools at the National Level in Conjunction with Other Relevant Bodies
Developing curricula and syllabuses for Nigerian schools fall under the purview of the federal Minister of Education, working with the Ministry. This is important because it helps to draw a road map to the ministry’s envisioned land of glory. When it comes to creating a strong curriculum and syllabus for the educational system, the Ministry of Education collaborates with relevant organizations.
Conclusion
For these reasons and many more, the minister of education is unquestionably important in ensuring that quality education is provided across Nigeria.
