Onwuka Nzeshi
29 August 2007
Abuja — The Federal Government yesterday suspended the series of reforms initiated in the education sector during the Obasanjo administration, saying some of the policies were formulated and implemented without due recourse to existing laws.
First to be knocked down was the consolidation of tertiary educational institutions in which the last administration sought to merge the polytechnics with the universities.
This would mean the phasing out of National Diplomas and Higher National Diplomas, to be replaced by Bachelor's degrees.
The Federal Scholarship Board which was excised from the Federal Ministry of Education and merged with the Education Trust Fund (ETF) during the tenure of Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili as Minister of Education would from next week return to its original place.
An expanded stakeholders' summit of all relevant agencies, interest groups and institutions in the sector would soon be convened to brainstorm on the way forward for educational development in Nigeria.
These major policy shifts came even as the Federal Government cautioned the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government negotiating team against entering into any agreement that would not be in the best interest of the generality of the citizenry and the nation.
Minister of Education, Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachuku, announced the changes in Abuja during his first official visit to the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Educational Trust Fund (ETF).
Aja-Nwachuku, who was accompanied on the visit by the Ministers of State Dr. Jerry Agada and Hajia Aisha Duku, disclosed that the policy reversals had become necessary because the Yar Adua administration believes in the rule of law, adding that even if the reforms initiated by the last administration were to be adopted wholesale, the legal framework including enabling laws would have to be amended.
The Minister said while the current team in charge at the Federal Ministry of Education was not out to destabilise the education sector, it was committed to doing the right things transparently and with wide consultation with all relevant stakeholders.
"We shall be unfolding our plans as we visit relevant parastatals. Information available to us shows that we need to do further consultations on the policies bearing in mind that they were some existing Acts that were not taken into consideration in implementing those reforms. When we were at the NUC, we told them that we are reverting to the status quo ante on the issue of consolidation of tertiary institutions and their agencies," he said
Meanwhile, Aja-Nwachuku has advised university teachers who are currently engrossed in negotiations with the Federal Government to be very careful and put public interest in whatever agreement they reach with the Federal Government's negotiation team.
The Minister, who was at the conference room of the NUC where the university teachers were meeting the Mr. Gamaliel Onosode-led negotiating team, pledged that the Federal Government would abide with whatever decision that would be reached provided such decisions were in the national interest and not the selfish interest of any group.
The former education minister had, during her brief tenure, instituted a wide range of reforms in the education sector, notably the consolidation of tertiary institutions in which polytechnics would become campuses of universities and award degrees, and the public-private partnership in the management of federal government colleges.
Some of the measures have been met with criticisms from various commentators, including the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Ahmadu Ali, who likened the "sale" of unity schools to selling the family's silverware.
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