Nathaniel Zaccheaus Abuja
The Minister of Education Adamu Adamu yesterday kicked against a bill seeking the establishment of the National Examination Management Commission. He also rejected the Federal Unity Schools Establishment Bill. The minister said that the bills were not in the best interest of education in the country.

Adamu spoke at a Public Hearing organised by Senate Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary) held in Abuja yesterday. The bills are the “National Examination Management Commission Bill, 2022 and the Federal Unity Schools Establishment Bill, 2022.

The bill on the examination management commission was sponsored by Senator Bima Enagi (APC-Niger) while that of the federal unity schools was sponsored by Sen. Kabiru Barkiya (APC- Katsina). The minister was represented on the occasion by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr David Gende.

He said the bill when passed into law would duplicate the functions of the Federal Ministry of Education. He said,

“The bill will undermine the role of the ministry in supervising the different types of examinations in the country by giving the role of supervising examination to the proposed commission. “This will result into too many administrative bottlenecks that will result in reckless spending by the federal government,” he added.

The minister said that unity schools were established with specific purposes and tampering with it would affect it negatively.
He said, “The Federal Unity Schools establishment Bill would expose schools to unnecessary lawsuits, leadership tussles and other vices that will be detrimental to the development of education.

He said, “What the federal government should do is to establish more model schools that will meet the yearnings of Nigerians.”

Also, the Registrar Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede said that there was no

problem with the current examination bodies in the country as they were all doing well.

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According to him, the bill will only end up causing more confusion as it will create duplication of duties.
Also speaking, Head of National Office, WAEC, Nigeria Mr Patrick Areghan said that the bill would make room for counter productivity as all examination bodies have governing boards.

The Vice Chairperson of the Committee Sen. Akon Eyakenyi said that governments at all levels “owe the nation the responsibility of ensuring that the education sector works.

“We need to give all the necessary support to the sector do that the future generation gets the best in education.”

She explained that the federal unity schools bill was not to set up a board but to give a legal framework to the schools.