Commission calls for establishment of senior secondary education boards

The National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) has called on state governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to establish Senior Secondary Education Boards.

The Executive Secretary of NSSEC, Dr. Iyela Ajayi, made the call during the commission’s visit to the Nigeria Governor’s Forum Secretariat in Abuja.

The establishment of the boards, Ajayi said, would enable collaboration while also harnessing NSSEC intervention funds meant for the repositioning of senior secondary education.

Ajayi further said that the NSSEC bill, which had been successfully passed into law and gazetted as NSSEC Act 2023 by the past administration, specified that to qualify for the NSSEC intervention fund, a state must establish the Senior Secondary Education Board (SSEB).

He added that the state must also be ready to operate a separate account from that of the state government and also provide 5 percent counterpart funding.

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

“The NSSEC intervention fund is to be used for the infrastructural development of senior secondary schools and teachers’ capacity development across the 36 states and FCT,” he said.

The executive secretary called on the Director General of the 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 to access the NSSEC Fund.

Responding, the Director-General of the Governors’ Forum, Mr. Asishana Okauru, promised to brief the governors on the commission’s offer.