WE CALLED LAST WEEK'S REPORT ON CANCELLATION OF NECO AND JAMB IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM...IT TURNED OUT WE WERE RIGHT!

[caption id="attachment_7916" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Chief Nyesom Wike- Minister of State for Education[/caption]

No action on UTME, NECO yet, says FG

Abuja — Worried by the anxiety that has trailed the purported scrapping of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME and the National Examination Council, NECO, the Federal Government has cleared the air on the matter, saying that no decision has been taken on the matter.

Many groups including members of the National Assembly and labour unions  have already kicked against the planned scrapping of the institutions, which have been providing services for students across the country.

Although the government is yet to issue a white paper on the recommendation of the Oronsaye Report, which recommended the reduction of government agencies to a reasonable number to save costs, a top government official last week leaked a report to state House correspondents, claiming that NECO and UTME had been laid to rest.

But the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, told Vanguard in an exclusive interview in Abuja that the government was yet to take any decision on the issue and asked Nigerians not to panic.

According to Wike, it was improper for people to spread rumours about what the administration had not taken a firm decision on.

Wike said, “It is true that there was a committee set up to issue a white paper on the Oronsaye Report and up till now the committee has not presented its report to the government for examination and adoption to warrant the kind of rumours making the rounds and causing anxiety in the country.

“What Nigerians should believe and expect from the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is nothing but the best at all times. This government means well for the education sector and will therefore not do anything that will not be in the best interest of all Nigerians.

“If the government wants to take any decision on JAMB, NECO and the rest, such actions will be weighed and taken with the overall best interest of all and I can assure Nigerians that no such action has yet been taken.”

Wike explained that the government was rather working hard to reposition the education sector by providing necessary facilities and personnel for all the unity schools in the country as well as strengthen tertiary education to make it more useful to Nigerians.

According to the minister, the overall goal of the ministry was to meet the Millennium Development Goal and pave the way for some of Nigeria’s universities to meet international standards and be counted among the best in the world.

Wike pointed out that the present administration was also working hard to clear the rot in the education system by ensuring regular inspection of schools and training of teachers and other operators of the system to enable them to cope with the modern techniques of teaching and learning.

“The situation in the Nigerian education system is taking a better shape that it was when we first came in and we are not going to rest until we sanitise the situation for the interest of the nation and its people because education holds the key for the nation’s advancement,” Wike stated.

Vanguard learnt from competent sources that a crucial meeting of heads of parastatals had been slated for today to enable the administration to deliberate on the outcome of the Orosonya report, with a view to streamlining the agencies with a view to issuing a white paper.

The meeting, which is to be presided over by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, will seek the inputs of stakeholders to ensure a hitch-free implementation of the agencies to merged or scrapped.

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North, Favour Nnabugwu & Livinus Nwabughiogu

RELATED REPORT

IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM!…FG HAS NO POWER TO SCRAP JAMB OR NECO WITHOUT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY!

IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM!...FG HAS NO POWER TO SCRAP JAMB OR NECO WITHOUT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY!

HERE IS THE REPORT IN TODAY'S VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

"FG to scrap JAMB exam, NECO, NAPEP"

ABUJA—The Federal Government is scrapping the National Examinations Council, NECO, and the National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP among other government agencies. It is also divesting the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board of powers to conduct examinations into tertiary institutions in the country.

 

The government is taking the decision in order to streamline agencies of government and reduce the cost of governance.

The decision, Vanguard gathered is part of the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye Panel Report on the reform of government agencies and ministries.

The Oronsaye Committee Recommendations

Mr Oronsaye who was the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation recommended the abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and reversal of 14 to departments in ministries.

According to the white paper, which was drafted by a committee headed by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board would be divested of the powers to conduct matriculation examinations into tertiary institutions while universities would be allowed to conduct their entrance examinations to students.

Although the JAMB would not be scrapped, it would be a mere administrative structure that would set standard for minimum requirements on how  the various universities would conduct entrance examinations.

JAMB to be re-modelled

JAMB will be modelled along same line with the body in the United States of America which sets standards for admissions into institutions of higher learning.

Other decisions taken by government on the Oronsaye committee include the scrapping of the National Examinations Council, NECO, the National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP, and the National Complaints commission.

The report seen by Vanguard, recommended that the functions of NECO would be assumed by the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, which will also take over the structures of NECO nationwide.

In order to make up for the deluge of students who sit for the external examinations of Neco, WAEC would be expected to conduct two external examinations, one in January and another in November for external students while still running its internal examination programmes for secondary school students.

Under the proposal, the National Poverty Eradication Programme would be replaced by an agency called National Agency for Job Creation and Empowerment (NAJCE) while the National Complaints Commission will be merged with the National Human Rights Commission.

The Government rejected the recommendation urgung the scrapping of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and the Ministry of Police Affairs, saying it would be counter productive.

A member of the committee told Vanguard that the decision was preparatory to government’s plans to overhaul major sectors in the country.

“JAMB will be divested of the admission provision. It will no longer conduct examinations but will be a clearing house. Every school will admit its students.

“Neco will be scrapped and its infrastructure will be merged with that of the West African Examination Council (waec).

“Universities will be allowed to set their standards but jamb will set the minimum standard for admission into all tertiary institutions” the source said.

Several efforts to reach the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity failed as he did not pick his phones as at the time of this report.

It will be recalled that the Oronsaye report stated that the average cost of governance in Nigeria is believed to rank among the highest in the world.

Oronsaye said in his report that “there are 541 Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies (statutory and non-statutory).

“Going by the recommendations of the Committee, the figure of statutory agencies is being proposed for reduction to 161 from the current figure of 263.

“The Committee believes that if the cost of governance must be brought down, then both the Legislature and Judiciary must make spirited efforts at reducing their running costs…

By Ben Agande

AND HERE IS OUR OPINION PUBLISHED IN THE ONLINE EDITION OF THE NEWSPAPER

"..these are only "recommendations"... right?...was Neco not set up by statute?...i doubt if Neco can be dealt with without the national assembly...furthermore do we remember that Neco was set up by the north as a political counterpoint to Waec so to speak?...and by the way has the north cancelled its own jamb called ijmb?...no matter how good or bad some of these organizations are these "recommendations" do not appear plausible or far-reaching enough as published...educational reorganization affecting millions of Nigerian children should not be based on the objectives of a merger committee...i wonder why vanguard did not have any comment from the National Advisory Council on Education or the Federal Ministry of Education..."

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/fg-to-scrap-jamb-exam-neco-napep/