Establish Secondary Education Boards, NSSEC Tells Governors

The Executive Secretary, National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), Dr. Iyela Ajayi, has called on state governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to establish Senior Secondary Education Boards in the various states including the FCT.

He made the call during the commission’s visit to the Nigeria Governor’s Forum in Abuja.

According to a statement by the head of press, Fatima Ahmed Bappare, Iyela said this would enable states collaborate with the commission and harness NSSEC intervention funds which are meant for the repositioning of senior secondary education.

The executive secretary further said the NSSEC bill which had been successfully passed into law and gazetted as NSSEC Act 2023 by the past administration, specifies that to qualify for the NSSEC intervention fund, a state must establish the Senior Secondary Education Board (SSEB) and be ready to operate a separate account from that of the state government. In addition, the state must also provide 5% counterpart funding.

These he said, would help to avoid ambiguity in disbursement of the fund and its implementation in the various states.

“The NSSEC Intervention Fund is to be used for infrastructural development of Senior Secondary Schools and teachers’ Capacity Development across the 36 states and FCT,” Dr Iyela disclosed.

He called on the director general of Nigeria Governors’ Forum to use the collaborative platform to reach out to all governors and encourage them to commence the legislative process of domesticating their SSEB Laws as a matter of urgency. This, he said, would enable the states access the NSSEC fund.

Responding, the director general of the Governors’ Forum, Mr. Asishana Okauru, assured the commission of his readiness to brief the governors on the offer. He also expressed commitment to introduce development partners that would collaborate with the commission to achieve its mandate.