The Federal Government has officially launched the implementation of a major reform that allows Colleges of Education across Nigeria to run degree programmes alongside the National Certificate in Education (NCE), without the need for university affiliation.
Speaking at the National Summit in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa—represented by the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Said Ahmad—hailed the policy as “a historic milestone in Nigeria’s educational development.”
“For the first time in our history, our Colleges of Education have been legally empowered to run NCE and degree programmes concurrently in teacher education disciplines,” Ahmad said, citing the Federal Colleges of Education (Establishment) Act No. 43 of 2023.
She explained that the reform leverages the decades-long experience of the institutions, granting them both legislative and operational authority to expand their offerings while maintaining their mandate of producing highly skilled teachers.
Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof. Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, described the reform as transformative. He noted that Colleges of Education, which had long relied on partnerships with universities to award degrees, can now exercise full autonomy using their own manpower and infrastructure.
Okwelle added that the new system will boost teacher supply, enable students to graduate with both NCE and B.Ed qualifications, and retain professional educators within the system.
Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Colleges of Education, Hon. Adamu Tanko, reassured that the degrees conferred by the Colleges will hold the same value as those awarded by universities nationwide.
The Ministry of Education pledged continued support through policy frameworks, technical assistance, and resource mobilisation to ensure the smooth rollout of the dual-mandate system.
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