The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu on Wednesday lamented that most directorate-cadre officers in the Federal Civil Service in Nigeria cannot write a good memo; a factor he said was responsible for failure of most government policies and programmes.
Adamu represented by the Director, Human Resources and Development, Mr Mohammed Umar, spoke in Abuja while declaring open a three-day workshop on “Leadership and Strategic Management in the Era of Education for Change” organised for deputy directors and assistant directors at the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters.
Speaking through Umar, he said, “It is unfortunate that most directorate cadre officers cannot write a good memo.
“One of the reasons that may have contributed to the failure of the previous national efforts such as road map and four-year strategic plan aimed at revamping the education sector to achieving its goal was inadequate capacity of the policy makers, planners and administrators.
“Deputy and assistant directors at the FME headquarters are key in policy making and implementation. These leaders hold strategic positions in the ministry and for the government to achieve its objective of change and reforms of inclusive functional education for all, the capacity building is apt and most desirable,” he said.
Adamu added that education system was dynamic and that the sector planners and managers needed to acquire skills to update their function more effectively in line with the agenda of change.
He said the workshop organised by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) was aimed at strengthening the capacity of the sector planners and administrators.
He expressed the commitment of the Federal Government to training and retraining of the top echelon of the civil service, saying provision of good quality service delivery particularly in the educational settings was depended on the quality and experience of its deputy and assistant directors.
He said: “The President Muhammadu led administration recognises that Nigeria’s education system must prepare and equip the citizenry to effectively contribute and discharge their roles for national development.
“Further, this administration notes that the security and stability of Nigeria depends largely on its ability to provide functional education to it citizens.”
Director-General of NIEPA, Professor Lilian Salami, in her welcome remarks, said the capacity building training was designed to empower, update, and create a desire in the officers to learn skills beyond theories and experience gained through work, and translate the latter to uncommon functionality in the passion to make change.
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