A senior official at the Federal Ministry of Education has said that the Nigerian federal government spent about 1.3 trillion naira on the education sector in the past four years.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Sonny Echono said this on Monday in Abuja adding that the Muhammadu Buhari administration was committed to promoting collaboration between the town and the gown.
Mr Echono made this known in his address at the opening ceremony of the 37th Conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) in Abuja.
“To demonstrate its commitment to the development of education in the country, about 1.3 trillion naira has been expended on the (education) sector in the last four years by the present administration to provide critical education infrastructure,” he said.
“The present administration is also placing more emphasis on technical and vocational education and training (TVET), which is borne out of the recognition that TVET is the bedrock of socio-economic growth and development of any nation.”
Making reference to the ministry’s Master Plan document tagged the “Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) 2018-2022”, he said the government was using that to achieve its commitment to making Nigerians positioned for global competitiveness.
Earlier, the AEAA President, Litsabako Ntoi spoke about the theme of the conference, “Innovations in Educational Assessment”.
Dr Ntoi noted that the choice of the theme was to challenge examiners to embrace change with the fourth industrial revolution in place.
She identified the menace of examination practices as one that must be conquered.
EduCeleb.com reports that the AEAA is a non-profit promoting cooperation, knowledge and idea sharing among organisations and institutions involved in public examinations and assessment in Africa.
The five day conference is bringing together officials of examination bodies, academics and other stakeholders across the continent and beyond together towards improving the state of educational assessment.
