Departments in the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
7th March 2019
The Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria oversees policies, regulations among other things in the education sector as you must have read in the introductory post titled “Things to know about Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education”.
It hasfifteen various departments that ensure that its services are delivered toNigerians in general. These departments along with parastatals and units underthe ministry make the work of the Minister of Education effective.
In thispost, EduCeleb.com presents you the names of the departments, theirservices and locations.
Notethat except otherwise stated, the following Departments are located at the NewFederal Secretariat Phase 111, Shehu Shagari Way. P.M.B. 146 Garki, Abuja.
So, the nexttime you have something to do with the ministry, familiarity with theseexisting departments would be of help.
The Department of Basic and Secondary is located on the 6th floor of the Ministry’s building and has seven divisions which are headed by Deputy Directors. There are 21 branches in the Department and each branch is headed by an Assistant Director. The main function of the Department is to provide enabling structures and build capacity for efficient and effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the National Policy on Education (NPE) on Basic and Secondary Education.
Specific services the department provides include;
(i) Periodic monitoring and evaluation of welfare of staff and students of Federal Unity Colleges (FUCs).
(ii) Assessment of the quality of leadership exhibitedby the principals of FUCs.
(iii) Assessment of the school plant i.e. landscapingof the school, is the school environment learning friendly? Is the library wellstocked? Perimeter fencing of the school compound etc.
(iv) Promotion of multilingual education at the Basicand Secondary levels.
(v) Supervision of FUCs to serve as vehicles forNational cohesion and models for states and private secondary schools.
(vi) Monitoring of the implementation of the nationalstrategy for inclusive education to ensure equal access.
(vii) Promoting universal access, equitable andqualitative Basic and Secondary Education.
(viii) Facilitating a conducive environment for stafffor teaching and learning.
(ix) Provide best practices for the teachers at theBasic and Secondary levels of education.
(x) Monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the NPE, Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act and the National Council on Education (NCE) decisions.
(xi)Ensuring teachers’ welfare, motivation and other school support services.
(xii) Monitoring of the implementation of the NationalStrategy for inclusive education to ensure equal access to education ofchildren with special needs.
(xiii)Coordinating and monitoring the provision of literacy programme and life skillsfor adult learners and out of school
The Department of Tertiary Educationis located on the 7th floor. It has the statutory responsibility for theformulation, implementation and monitoring of policies on Tertiary Educationfor matters affecting Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education inNigeria. This extends to the Authentication of Certificates and Accreditationof local and foreign qualifications in Education.
TertiaryEducation Department as constituted has the responsibility for the followingservices:
(i) Monitoring and evaluating the implementation ofpolicies and programmes in tertiary education and institutions;
(ii) Promoting policies and programmes on science, Technologyand Mathematics Education at tertiary education;
(iii) Organizing visitations to Tertiary Institutions,processing and production of reports and White Paper the reform;
(iv) Identifying and placing Ministry’s representativeson the Governing Councils/Boards of Tertiary Institutions/Parastatals;
(v) Collation and processing of GoverningCouncil/Boards reports;
(vi) Evaluation and Accreditation of local and foreignqualifications in Education;
(vii) Authentication of certificates obtained in Nigeriainstitutions;
(viii) Rendering advisory services to studentsintending to study abroad;
(ix) Collating global information on education systemsand institutions;
(x) Promoting policies and programmes towardsindustrial harmony and relations in tertiary institutions;
(xi) Provision of advisory and appellate services toStates and private institutions.
(xii)Annual Global Teachers Day Ceremony, Integration of Teachers.
Federal Education Quality Assurance Services department was created under Decree 16 (now Act 16) of 1985. It is vested with the responsibility of the establishment and maintenance of Minimum Standards in pre-primary, primary and post-primary (Basic and Secondary) schools and similar institutions in the Federation on the Minister of Education which he executes through the Federal Education Quality Assurance Services. Quality in Education Delivery is assured through external evaluation and school self-evaluation of overall performance and effectiveness of schools. It is located on the 9th Floor.
The service provision of the departmentare as follows:
(i) Undertake regular inspection of all schools in thecountry below tertiary level to ensure effective and comprehensiveimplementation of Curriculum, Standard and Pedagogy through:
(ii)Collaborate with relevant agencies to evaluate the quality of instructionalmaterials and their appropriateness.
(iii) Ensure attainment of minimum and uniformstandards in educational practices nationwide through compliance with NationalPolicy on Education.
(iv) Undertake regular capacity building for inspectors.
(v) Organize capacity building programmes for teachers,subject heads, principals of schools and other stakeholders;
(vi) Review regular existing guidelines for schoolinspection.
(vii) Serve as approving agent for school requiringregistration for National Examination.
(viii) Develop the guidelines for participatoryinspection.
(ix) Ensure schools accountability to government andcommunity.
(x) Develop and regularly review instruments formonitoring effectiveness of organization and administration of schools and itsco-corporate life,
(xi) Under take advocacy and sensitization ofstakeholders on the implementation of recommendations from inspection reports.
(xii) Provide guide lines on the establishment andaccreditation of schools.
(xiii) Develop a code of conduct for inspectors andensure compliance.
(xiv) Publish “Annual State of Education in Nigeria” ofinstitutions below tertiary level.
(xv)Develop a data bank in the inspectorate services.
(xvi) Disseminate information on inspectorate service,through the production of periodic publications, such as journals andNewsletters.
(xvii) Monitoring of all school examinations.
(xviii)Any other duties assigned to it by the Ministry,
Located on the 5th floor, thedepartment is responsible for the Coordination and Development of Educationpolicies, strategic and medium sector and action plans, research, documentationand harnessing of national and international partnerships for efficient andeffective Education Service Delivery.
What the department does are to:
(i) Develop, update and maintain computerized databasefor all levels and types of Education Institutions.
(ii) Conduct surveys of all types for differentindicators and publish reports thereof.
(iii) Develop and maintain a specialized library andsupervise all school libraries below the tertiary level of education.
(iv) Evaluate and continually update curriculum fordifferent levels of education.
(v) Collect and consolidate information and statisticsresponse to questionnaires and queries from other agencies.
(vi) Compile lists of educational institutions; publicbrochures and monographs on educational systems.
(vii) Undertake research for the formulation ofeducation policy, planning and other programs.
(viii) Organize workshops, seminars and meetings onissues related to educational problems and development.
(ix) Coordinate the articulation of the FME Strategicand Sectoral 10-year plans and MTSS and the monitoring evaluation of planperformance.
(x) Co-ordinate partnerships with national andinternational organizations working in the fields of education planning,management and research.
(xi) Coordinate the secretariat for the main two organsfor National Education Policy development – the Joint Consultative Committee onEducation (JCCE) and the NCE.
(xii) Coordinate the implementation of MDG projects bybeneficiaries in the Education Sector, and monitoring and evaluation of theseprojects.
(xiii) Coordinate the Exam Ethics and Campus Safety activities of the FME as it affects all levels of Education in Nigeria.
(xiv) Create synergy with the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and  the National Library and monitor target attainment of their development and medium term plan.
Finance and Accounts department isone of the professional Service Departments that assist the Federal Ministry ofEducation in Nigeria through provision of financial services, budgetaryservices and rendition of financial and accounting returns in line with theFinancial Regulation and extant rules. The Finance and Accounts Departmentassists the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry to render accounts of hisstewardship to government through submission of monthly transcripts andfinancial returns to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.The department is located on the 2nd Floor.
The Finance and Accounts Department provides the following services:
(i) Payment and settlement of staff and contractualclaims.
(ii) Collection of independent revenue for government.
(iii) Verification and inspection of accounts books anddocuments of FUCs and FIS offices.
(iv) Training and retraining of accounts staff both in theHeadquarters, FUCs and FIS offices.
(v) Provision of answers and replies to question fromPAC and Federal Auditors.
(vi) Issuance of treasury receipt to the public forrevenue received.
(vii) Issuance of AIE to FUCs and FIS offices.
(viii) Liaising with National Assembly, the OAGF, the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and other Agencies on behalf of the Ministry.
(ix)Providing a platform for co-operation and cohesion between Finance and AccountsDepartment and other Departments
Human Resource Management departmentis charged with the responsibility of employing persons to posts on gradelevels 01-06, training, discipline and promotion of serving Officers as well asprocessing of pension benefits. The department is located on the 3rd floor inthe ministry headquarters.
The department renders the followingservices:
(i) Promoting staff as and when due;
(ii) Conversion/Upgrading of officers with additionalqualifications;
(iii)Training and retraining of staff;
(iv) Processing of documents for payment of severancebenefits of disengaged staff;
(v) Processing of documents of disengaged staff whowere underpaid severance benefits,
(vi)Processing of pension benefits.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department was established in 2007 specifically to drive the delivery of innovative technology solutions and support services towards ensuring that all departments within the FME are able to leverage modern ICT resources to optimize their respective functions. In the year 2011, a new ICT Department was created to serve as an ICT co-ordination resource for the education sector at large, ensuring development of uniform standards, skills, acquisition and using a convergence-driven approach to eliminate duplicitous expenditure. The office is on the 4th floor.
TheICT Department has created a great vacuum for:
(i) Staff Capacity building in the usage of ICT.
(ii) ICT staff professional skills.
(iii) ICT infrastructure – hardware, network, intranet,internet/bandwidth
(iv) ICT-furthered education software
(v)E-learning facilities
The Technology and Science Educationdepartment is mandated to formulate and implement policy on technology andscience education.
In consonance with its mission, thedepartment is saddled with:
(i) Vocational (job specification) education offered inTechnical Colleges and Vocational Training Centres nationwide.
(ii) Pre-vocational education offered in primary andsecondary schools nationwide.
(iii) Science education offered in primary andsecondary schools.
(iv)Technology teacher education offered in the Universities, Colleges of Educationand Polytechnics.
(v) Vocational education quality control and assurance nationwideinvolving national curriculum development and programmes accreditation.
(vi) Supervision of related parastatals e.g. NABTEB, NECO and WAECand
(vii)Related distance education in technology and science education curriculum.
The Public Procurement Department is located on the 3rd floor in the ministry. It is the Public Procurement Act 2007 that established the procurement department and charged with the responsibility to amongst others, provide legal and institutional framework and professional capacity for Ministry’s procurement.
TheProcurement Department has the following functions:
(i) Follow the general policies and guidelines relating to publicsector procurement for the approval of the Ministerial Tenders Board.
(ii) Ensuring adherence to thresholds as may be set by the Councilof Bureau of Public Procurement.
(iii) Certify Federal Government Procurement prior to the award ofcontract;
(iv) Implementation of established procurement policies;
(v) Publish the details of major contracts in the procurementjournal;
(vi) Advertise all projects to be procured in two national dailiesand Federal Tenders journal;
(vii) Maintain a database of the particulars and classification andcategorization of procurement activities in the Department.
(viii)Collate and maintain in an archival system, all procurement plans andinformation;
(ix) Undertake periodic procurement research and price surveys;
(x) Prepare and update standard bidding and contract documents;
(xi) Prevent fraudulent procurement and where necessary applyadministrative sanctions according to the act.
(xii)Review the procurement and award of contract procedures to which theprocurement act applies;
The Legal Unit of the Federal Ministry of Education is an extension of the Chambers of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice who is the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, by virtue of section 150 and 174 of the 1999 Constitution. Located on the 4th floor, it is headed by the Legal Adviser who is assisted by other lawyers posted from the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Thefollowing are some of the services the department provides.
(i) Rendering legal advice/opinion on any matter with legalconnotation referred to the Unit from the Ministry and its parastatals.
(ii) Preparation of bills for amendments of laws or for enactmentof new laws.
(iii) Preparing and vetting legal instruments i.e. Deeds ofguarantee, Powers of Attorney, Education Law Instruments, searches,investigations and perfection of Legal Titles and liaison with regulatoryauthorities on legal issues concerning the Ministry.
(iv) Participating in negotiations, preparing and vetting ofContract Agreement/ Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and other legal documentsinvolving the Ministry.
(v) Representing the Ministry at local and international meetings,seminars and workshops.
(vi) Attendance at Board or Committee meetings such as MinisterialTenders Board (MTB) and other ad-hoc Committees.
(vii)Liaison with the Federal Ministry of Justice on behalf of the Ministry andParastatals on legal issues.
TheEducation Support Services Department coordinates and supervises the activitiesof the following five divisions through which it provides support services toother departments of the Federal Ministry of Education:
(i) The International Education Division
(ii) The Evaluation and Accreditation Division
(iii) The General Educational Support Services Division
(iv) The Sports and Health Education Division
(v)National Project Coordinating Unit (NPCU).
Themajor functions of the Educational Support Services Department located on the8th floor are as follows:
(i) Policy design, coordinating and implementation of programmes ofinternational cooperation in education.
(ii) Promotion of art and cultural education.
(iii) Book development in the country.
(iv) Promotion of readership.
(v) Evaluation of foreign qualifications and accreditation offoreign institutions.
(vi) Language development promotion of health and sports education.
(vii)Coordination and implementing HIV/AIDS intervention policies in educationsector.
(viii) Registration and monitoring of Non-Government Organizationsin education sector.
(ix) Coordination and supervision of World Bank – Assisted UBEP IINational Project.
TheReform Coordination and Service Improvement Department was established byCircular No. HCSF/CME/EM/234/17 of 11th March, 2014 with the mandate tocoordinate, drive, monitor and report on the implementation of the ReformAgenda in MDAs. The main focus of the Department is to identify lapses in workprocesses, systems and service gaps and with the Bureau of Public ServiceReforms and Office of the Head of Service, develop interventions to eliminatesuch gaps.
TheDepartment is made up of three divisions, namely;
Thefollowing functions are performed by these divisions.
(i) Serves as the focal point for driving all change, reforms,innovation and improvement efforts within the Ministry.
(ii) Liase with the Ministry’s Departments and the office of theHead of Service to develop, refine, improve and recommend more efficient workprocesses and systems for the Ministry.
(iii) Develop and deploy change management tools and practices toinstitute sustainable improvement in the Ministry.
(iv)Identify and research into good services with a view to adopting the bestoptions for possible adaptations to Service Delivery in the Ministry.
(v)Check the levels of implementation of Government Circulars to what isobtainable in the Ministry with a view to ensuring that such circulars areconstantly implemented.
Addressesissues of Ethical Re-orientation and attitudinal changes for the delivery ofeffective and satisfactory Service to the Customers, this is achieved throughthe under listed functions;
(i) Spearhead the Ministry’s (including extra-ministerialDepartments and Parastatals) Service Delivery initiative through SERVICOMCompliance.
(ii) Manage the Ministry’s customer relation Policy includingproviding opportunities for customers’ feedback on services.
(iii) Disseminate best practices and other tips on service deliveryimprovement.
(iv) Initiate Sensitization Programmes on the Principles, Aims andTenets of SERVICOM for Staff of the Ministry, Parastatals, Institutions andeven students to achieve attitudinal change.
(v) Develop, update and publish the Ministry’s Service DeliveryCharter with a view to creating the necessary awareness of the expectations,rights and obligations of the Customer.
(vi)Institute a complaint procedure and grievance Redress Mechanism for theMinistry.
(i) Responsible for enlightening and educating the staff of theMinistry against corrupt practices.
(ii) Carry out preliminary investigation on all petitions sent tothe Ministry on corrupt practices and report same to Management, ICPC, EFCC andOffice of the Civil Service of the Federation as the case may be.
(iii)Carry out studies of all operational systems and procedure in the Ministry andmake recommendations and amendment.
The Internal Audit Department ismandated to ensure prudence in the management of the resources of the FederalMinistry of Education.
Thedepartment does the following.
(i) Pre-auditing of payment of vouchers.
(ii)Post Auditing of Accounting records maintained by the Ministry, Unity Colleges,inspectorate offices, Federal Scholarship Board and other areas of activitiesand functions of the Ministry.
(iii) Prompt cash survey and verification of cash and assetsquarterly.
(iv) Auditing the System of Revenue Collection and actual revenuecollected monthly.
(v) Routing auditing of expenditure daily.
(vi) Auditing of issuance and consumption of stores monthly.
(vii) Verification of stores and plants held by the Ministryquarterly.
(viii) Ensuring that accounting records are accurate monthly,quarterly and annually.
(ix) Report writing (monthly, quarterly, bi-monthly and yearly)
(x) Investigation when the need arises.
(xi)Audit alarm.
The Federal Ministry of EducationHeadquarter Library Department is charged with the provision of information foreducation research planning and recreation, for effective and efficient servicedelivery. Indeed, the library provides access to all kinds of materials whichcontain credible and substantial information required for good governance,national growth and development especially on education matters.
Theseservices are provided through the department.
(i) Selection, acquisition and organization of books, journals,government publications and library materials, based on an approved librarypolicy and classification scheme.
(ii) Provision of library services (digital and/or analog);provision of reference and current awareness services.
(iii) Regular building of human capacity of library stocks.
(iv) Promoting readers awareness and library promotion campaign.
(v) Coordinating of the administrative and professional activitiesof library services in relationship with professional bodies and libraryassociations (IFLA, LRCN, NLA, and AGOL.
(vi)Selective dissemination of information in line with the vision and mission ofthe parent ministry.
Federal Scholarship Board is saddledwith the responsibility of organizing various scholarship programs andassisting the brilliant, but indigent Nigerian youths to achieve their dreamsfor higher education within and outside the shores of Nigeria. Its office islocated on the 2nd floor of the FME Annex, Opposite Arewa Suites, CentralBusiness Areas.
Formulating and Implementing FederalGovernment policies and programmes on foreign and local scholarship awards todeserving Nigerian scholars.
(i) Preparing and organizing various scholarship programmes(Nigerian awards, Bilateral Educational Awards, Commonwealth Scholarship andFellowship plans and other international Aid programmes.
(ii) Organizing qualifying interviews for the award of scholarshipto study in Nigerian tertiary institutions, the Bilateral and multilateralawards.
(iii) Processing the remittances of scholars’ allowance to scholarshipaccounts in foreign countries.
(iv) Advising and coordinating state scholarship policies andprogrammes through the Annual Coordinating Committee Meeting (CCM) ofSecretaries and Federal and State Scholarship boards.
(v) Supervising and monitoring the activities of the Federalgovernment scholars in tertiary institutions locally and abroad
(vi) Liaising with tertiary institutions and foreign missions andscholarship awards, visas and the welfare of scholars.
(vii)Publicizing other scholarship information to interested members of the public.