List of Ministers of Education in Nigeria and their professional background

2nd January 2020

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Federal Ministry of Education headquarters Abuja.png — Federal Ministry of Education headquarters in Abuja

This article provides the list of ministers of education in Nigeria since its independence in 1960. That office as it is today has had different nomenclature and office holders with diverse professional backgrounds.

EduCeleb.com takes into account the titles of the offices held, its time span, the sex of the office holders and their professional background beyond the time they held the office. This is done to give a picture of the personalities behind the office and its equivalents at various times in Nigeria’s post-independence history.

The Federal Ministry of Education is the main government agency that coordinates the formulation of National Policies and guidelines for uniform standards, collect and collate data for the purpose of planning, financing and ensuring quality control at all levels of Education in Nigeria. This is as enshrined in various statutory instruments, including the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the National Policy on Education amongst others.

Whoever is appointed minister by the president is the overall head of the ministry. He/She is assisted in this administration by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry.

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The office of Minister of Education is more of a political appointment depending on the choice of whoever heads the country at one time or another. Just as governments change, ministers do too.

In Nigeria, the changes of education ministers have been more than double the number of government changes.

Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, a total of 51 persons have been minister of education.

The following Nigerians have acted in the capacity of Minister of Education in Nigeria or Minister of State for Education in Nigeria’s history.

Please, note that EduCeleb.com had done due diligence to ensure that every of the information herewith provided is accurate relying on multiple reputable sources based on our research.

Fun facts about Nigeria’s Ministers of Education (1960-2020)

* 51 persons have either been Minister or Minister of State for Education 11 of them were women
* 23 were teachers at various levels of education before their appointment
* 15 of them studied education courses and practised that in their professional lives
* 11 of them were involved in educational administration in their professional lives before the appointment

Requirements of becoming the Minister of Education

The office of minister of education is sensitive as actions taken by the occupier influences the education sector to a large extent.

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According to Section 147 (5) of the 1999 constitution as amended, the only qualification for one to be appointed as Minister is that the person must be “qualified for election into the House of Representatives”.

A person is qualified to be in the House of Representatives, according section 65 (2) of the Nigerian constitution if, they have “been educated up to at least School Certificate level or equivalent” and are “member of a political party and is sponsored by that party.”

Clearly, there is no reference to the professional background of a minister of education. In a past interview with EduCeleb.com, a retired professor of French education, Remi Sonaiya said that heading the education ministry is basically administrative.

In her words, “Being a minister is more of management. Yes, you should be knowledgeable about the area. But it is really more about the proper management of resources.”

Albeit, the somewhat irrelevance of educational background, various stakeholders continue to advocate for the appointment of qualified hands in the ministry. We shall be including the professional qualifications here for reference sake.