The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu has lauded the Ministerial Strategic Plan(MSP) as a working instrument and action plans during his eight years in office.
Adamu said this at a valedictory ceremony organised by the ministry in his honour and that of the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, in Abuja on Thursday.
The minister, who thanked God and President Muhammadu Buhari for the opportunity given to serve the nation, said Buhari had been his benefactor for a long time.
He also thanked the permanent secretaries that worked with him, including the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, for her roles in the adoption of the MSP.
”I was a poor journalist and one of the most angry journalists in the country at that time, so I didn’t fit in any power that will consider me to become a minister.
”After thanking God therefore, I will like to thank Muhammadu Buhari because I became minister because of my relationship with him.
”The MSP is a document that I decided to write when I came in because I didn’t know anything about education except superficially.
”So when Buhari decided to make me minister of education, I started work then we had a document which went through several reading and editing.
”I must specifically thank Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan because she was instrumental in adopting it, she was instrumental in making it the property of the ministry of education,” he said.
Also, some heads of parastatals in the ministry poured accolades on the minister for his giant strides in eight years.
The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono, said the minister is a leader, boss and a mentor who was able to identify talents and nurture them for the growth of the sector.
Echono, who is also a former permanent secretary in the ministry, said under Adamu’s watch, the country now has a university of health sciences in each geopolitical zone.
According to him, through his ingenuity, loyalty and support for the president, education sector had witnessed tremendous growth.
”In TETFund, we have seen a phenomenal growth in our revenue from two per cent to three per cent and that will ensure that a target of 500 million going to tertiary institutions each year will be realised in the near future.
”We also have seen the delivery of projects, presently we have 275 projects awaiting commissioning, completed in the last few months and many more will be completed in due course,” he said.
He commended the Minister of State for Education for his humility as well taking the minister as a mentor and brother which led to smooth working relationships between them.
Also, the Director, Federal Scholarship Board, Hajia Asta Ndajiwo, praised the minister for bringing sanity into the federal scholarship programme through equal distribution of scholarship awards to the 36 states and FCT.
Ndajiwo also said that the minister was able to clear all scholarship debts inherited when he came into office in 2015.
She added that the ministry had also directed the review of scholarship awards while also increasing the number of beneficiaries par state as well as the reintroduction of bursary for education students.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Chief executives from TRCN, NECO, JAMB, WAEC and others graced the occasion.
Adamu has been the longest-serving Minister of Education since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
He was appointed by the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and served as Minister of Education for 8 years
Buhari regime of whom Adamu is a part of is expected to handover to the incoming administration on May 29, 2023. (NAN)
