.As FG says 35,000 senior secondary schools exist in Nigeria

The Executive Secretary, National Senior Secondary Education Commission, Dr. Iyela Ajayi, has called on the Federal Government to release the 2 per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the funding of the Commission.

This is even as the Federal Government has said a total of 34,995 senior secondary schools exit in the country.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday in Abuja, Dr. Ajayi said the budgetary allocation is inadequate given the enormous responsibility of the Commission.

According to him, the key mandate of the Commission is to prescribe and enforce minimum standard and serve as a regulatory and intervention agency in all senior secondary schools across the country.

He expressed optimism that the Commission will be included among the benefiting agencies from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the 2024 appropriation bill.
Giving a breakdown of the senior secondary schools in Nigeria, the NSSEC Executive Secretary explained that as of April 2022, out of the 34,995 institutions across, the Federation, 13,526 are public while 20,707 are private.

He also gave the number of technical, vocational and unity colleges at 351, 409 and 112 respectively.

The Commission, he said, has already prepared a template for accessing and disbursing the fund to states in line with NSSEC Act of 2023, adding that states are expected to deposit 5 per cent counterpart fund to access it.

He said funds released to states would be monitored to avoid diversion.