The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has identified a weak local government system as partly the cause of poor education programmes delivery in the country.

Adamu stated this on Tuesday when members of the Senior Executive Course 44 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies visited him in his office in Abuja.

Represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary, Mr David Gende, the minister described the nation’s local government system as weak.

”This has led to a series of unsuccessful delivery of programmes aimed at bringing education close to the people.

”The local government is the closest to the people. Its effectiveness is crucial to the education of the people.

”It is unfortunate that its current weak state has contributed to the unsuccessful delivery of a number of education sector programmes,” he said.

The minister stated that the Federal Government, in 2016 instituted an integrated and strategic plan for tackling education sector challenges.

”This plan is intended to fulfil the transformative campaign promises of President Muhammadu Buhari on education.

“This effort birthed the Education for Change programme. A Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) 2016-2019 which became a road map for educational emancipation of Nigeria,” he said.

Adamu said the MSP contained 10 pillars covering different aspects of education which must be improved upon to prepare the country for the socio-economic competition of the 21 century.

He said that the pillars represented the goal of increased access to quality and strengthening the education system in the country.

Responding, the leader of the delegation Prof. Funmi Para-Mallam, who is also the Director of Studies, NIPSS, said the institute was ready to identify challenges in the education sector and proffer solutions to them.