Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike was just appointed minister of state for education. Until his appointment, he was chief of staff to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. In this interview with a group of journalists, Wike bares his mind on the task ahead of the ministry. Excerpts:
You just assumed office as the minister of state. How prepared are you to set the ball rolling?
I’m still acquainting myself with activities of the ministry, I have been receiving briefs, assessing situations in schools and studying reports, but what I know for sure is that the president is laying a good foundation by resorting to assessment, planning strategies and implementation instead of jumping the gun. If you recall, in October, 2010,
I remember watching a live transmission where President, Goodluck Jonathan personally chaired a presidential stakeholders’ summit on education, which came up with some resolutions that led to the formation of a presidential task force on education, inaugurated by the president. It had about 30 seasoned academics on it, under the leadership of Prof. Pai Obanya and their mandate was specific – to propose the best arrangement for the management, regulation and coordination of education at all levels; examine all laws militating against the delivery of qualitative education and propose necessary changes and amendments.
It was to propose a sustainable funding arrangement and transparent management of resources for education; examine the ethical issues in education and steps necessary to restore ethics and values in education at all levels, develop programmes and projects that will attract good brains to the teaching profession, while at the same time retaining and motivating existing teachers; propose ways necessary for the improvement of the teaching and learning environment to create greater access to education and enhance intellectual achievement across the board and to propose any other relevant step that would reposition the education sector in Nigeria. The task was huge, but the committee has submitted its report and the federal government will critically study and implement what it desires the best. Like my sister, the minister of education,
Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i said on that report, our problem in this country has always been with the implementation of strategies developed in reports, but I can assure Nigerians that Mr. President is very determined to ensure implementation of whatever the government adopts in the report. I think that is why he is currently running a target-based federal executive council, where there will be assessment of what any of us has been able to achieve over a period and I am sure that in our case in the federal ministry of education, implementation of the action plan derived from that report will be the yardstick to assess us, since the education reform is tied around an action plan, and we are very conscious of that.
We have a president that is very sincere in achieving what he has promised and the minister of education is very experienced and committed to achieving the president’s agenda and of course, I am there along with other stakeholders in the ministry and our affiliates. We will remain patriotic and committed to transforming the education sector in Nigeria.
What were the key submissions made by the task force?
So many, recommendations were made. I have learnt from our past experience of the electoral reform that sometimes, it is not too healthy when recommendations are quickly divulged, because there are cases where the government may want to review some recommendations, either to conform with constitutional provisions or to meet realities of financing etc. I remember the controversy that followed the recommendation of the Justice Uwais panel, that the National Judicial Council should recommend the chairman of INEC to take the powers away from the president.
I remember some aides to late president Yar’Adua arguing that by adopting that recommendation, the judiciary would be usurping the function of the executive, which places appointing INEC chairman on the president as chief executive constitutionally.
So there were arguments here and there, which could have been avoided if the committee hadn’t disclosed that. But by and large, the presidential task force on education made beautiful recommendations regarding the restructuring of the 6-3-3-4 system. They also called for accelerated action on the National Teacher Education Policy and the speedy implementation of the new teachers’ salary, amongst other things, but I prefer to keep it at that so that whatever I say is not misconstrued to be policies.
How would you assess the sector from what you have seen?
The situation was very bad, even the president declared so, which was why in the first place, he organised the presidential stakeholders’ summit leading to the
presidential task force on education. But things are continually improving and what is important is the president’s openness in admitting that there were problems, instead of shying away from them because of image protection; and researches have been and will continue to be made to get the statistics regarding our education levels, so that we know which part of the country needs what measures.
What kind of statistics are you talking about?
For instance, I am aware that a survey on our education data was conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the National Population Commission and some findings were made public by Chief Samu’ila Makama, chairman of the NPC. The findings show the level of education across states in the six geo-political zones and there were statistics on illiteracy levels showing the presumed figures of children who attend schools or not. The statistics will help in planning, so we know which area needs what measures to be taken.
What were the specifics on the findings?
I don’t want to be too specific in identifying states, because it is of no use now. The findings showed that two geo-political zones have the lowest literacy rate in Nigeria, where 72 per cent of children don’t attend basic schools, but what is important is for us as a ministry to take measures, in collaboration with respective states in the zones and other parts of the country, to change the trend by enhancing education through increasing access to schools, mass mobilisation, public enlightenment, making schools more attractive and affordable and making them better learning environments.
You served in the local government and at the state level in Rivers, what differences have you noticed so far, working as minister in the Federal Executive Council?
There are similarities at all levels; that is, I have been serving with the executive, as chairman and as chief of staff in Rivers and now as minister and of course, all are public service. There is a thick line between being a minister and my previous offices because as chairman, my concern basically then was about transforming my local government area, which was a big task because it was an overlap with Port Harcourt city, which meant I had to be involved in road construction that is ordinarily seen as the task of states and federal government. But by the grace of God, we did very well in Obio/Akpor. People can testify to that, including journalists.
As chief of staff, my job was to manage manpower in the government house and assist in steering the affairs of the governor, so my concern was mostly about happenings in the government house, policies of the state government and its programmes. But here as a state minister of education, my focus is larger. I am concerned about the educational sector as it affects the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, I should be worried about the standard of education across the 774 local government areas and the area councils in the FCT. This is a big task but by the grace of God, I will do my best in trying to achieve the agenda of our dear president, which is to transform education in Nigeria. My specific task concerns basic education, that is the UBE and unity colleges.
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