The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has asserted that Nigeria needs a knowledge based economy to achieve its desired goals as a nation.
The Senate President made this assertion when he declared open a public hearing on a bill to back up the establishment of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration(NIEPA), Ondo, Ondo State.
The Institute was established in 1992 by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNESCO/International Institute for Educational Planning(IIEP) as a Staff College for Planners and Managers in the Nigeria education sector and West Africa sub-region.
Giving his thorough assessment on the education sector, Lawan says Nigeria is not yet ready for a 21st century economy given the current structure of the education system.
He hoped that the outcome of today’s public hearing will produce the Senate with an opportunity to make the right decision in terms of how the institute should be as professional as possible.
In his welcome address, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Education(Basic and Secondary), Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, said the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration(Establishment) Bill 2022 sought to give legal backing to already functioning institutions.
Speaking at the commencement of the public hearing, the sponsor of the Bill, Senator Ayo Akinyelure said sadly despite the institute’s enormous potential and it’s long years of existence and operations, it does not have an enabling law to regulate it’s activities to strengthen and entrench its core mandates.
The crux of this public hearing therefore, is to aggregate stakeholders’ opinion as input with a view to producing enabling laws which will serve as impetus to drive the Nigeria Institute for Educational Planning and Administration activities.
