ASSEP will Uplift Lives of people of the North East – says NEDC Boss, Mohammed G. Alkali

EDITOR

The launch of the Accelerated Senor Secondary School Education Programme (ASSEP) will uplift the lives and livelihoods of the people of the North East, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mr Mohammed Alkali, has said.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, had on Saturday launched the ASSEP project at the Banquet Hall of Government house in company with governors of the sub-region and other stakeholders.

In his remark at the launching, Alkali explained that ASSEP would seek to boost the post-primary education rating across the North East thereby uplifting the lives and livelihoods of the people.

The ASSEP project would be done through three major objectives namely improved enrolment into tertiary institutions, skills development and elevation of teacher quality, he said.

“ASSEP will pay special focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and communication, which foster creativity and critical thinking,” he said.

“It motivates and inspires young people to generate new technologies and ideas to learn from inquiry-based task.

“ASSEP Key Delivery Pillar is to raise awareness about after-school possibilities and the potential for diligent students to become successful and prominent contributors to the NE Region and Nigeria.

“ASSEP Main Components are Quiz Competitions; Examination coaching (one ASSEP Centre in each of the 18 Senatorial Districts) which will be designated as “NEDC Centre of Excellence in Senior Secondary Education” to organize and hold regular tutorials, especially for students enrolled as candidates in WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations); Virtual instructions; Teacher quality upgrade”

Alkali expressed optimism that the launch of ASSEP will mark the beginning of an opportunity to uplift the lives and livelihoods of the people of the north east in their socio-cultural and economic position in years and decades to come.

He said the Federal Government conceived and established NEDC to rebuild social and physical infrastructure damaged by the devastating insurgency that ravaged much of the region.

Alkali said the NEDC was also established to address the root issues and lift the region to a level where such will not happen again. 

He said the North-East Stabilization and Development Master Plan (NERSDMP) was developed by the Commission and its diverse partners to support Human Capital Development in the North-East Region.

They include Educated Populace and Healthy Citizens Pillars, which caters for both human capital and physical facilities (infrastructure, teaching/learning materials, etc.) estimated to cost over N1 trillion. 

“The Commission has also ploughed other funds in Human Capital training and retraining programmes that can propel socio-economic development of the NE Region,” he said.

“This underscores the premium we place on building our people and their capacity to make concrete social and economic contribution. 

“But beyond targeting and facilitating the lifting of beneficiaries as a development priority, we envision the people whose capacity we build today as the future custodians of the legacies we create today. 

“Therefore, ASSEP is an intervention focused on addressing a particular challenge in our Region’s education system;

“It will provide effective support where the capacity of conventional schooling arrangements is limited for our teeming beneficiaries”

The NEDC boss   revealed  some of the key indices about Education in the North-East Region  showed that Primary Education Completion level of 85% in the NE is among the best in Nigeria but  unfortunately Secondary School enrolment is a mere 15%, the second worst nationally.

“Due to challenges in the post-primary education segment, JAMB UTME applications and admissions into tertiary institutions in 2019 were the lowest for the NE compared to other Regions,” he disclosed

“Nationally, the NE has the lowest number of teachers and the highest percentage (55% of those available) without literacy skills.

“The Challenges in post-primary education segment include weak quality indices (infrastructure, personnel and student disposition) and a wide demand – supply gap driven by economic and cultural factors.

“The quality and scale of post-primary education (sound secondary education and high completion rates) are major drivers of human capital development”