Barrister N. Salman Mann mni hails from Ilorin, Kwara State. She attended Queen Elizabeth Secondary School in Ilorin and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where she graduated with an LLB in 1980, and BL in 1981, from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. She also obtained a Master's in Business Administration MBA, from the University of Ilorin in 2003. She started her career which spanned 35 years in the State Civil Service and ended it at the Federal Civil Service. Her Career commenced as a State Counsel in the Ministry of Justice where she rose to become the first female Solicitor – General and Director General in the State. Between 1994 and 2003, she served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Justice, Commerce & Industries as well as the Ministry for Water Resources and Rural Development Kwara State. She was appointed as Head of Service in Kwara State in 2003 before transferring her service to the Federal service in 2003. At the Federal Level, she served in various Ministries before retiring in 2017.
The Span of her career has given her a very broad and multi-dimensional exposure to a cross section of Policy areas and has broadened her horizon on many matters that border on a variety of National issues. She has also served on various Government Committees and her schedules have touched numerous and diverse areas ranging from Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, Implementation of ECOWAS plan of action on Human Trafficking and Child Labour, to Implementation of ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons. She has also served as Member, Board of Directors, and ECOWAS Regional Development Bank (EBID) in Lome, Togo, member, The Federal Government Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Government Ministries and Parastatals, known as the Oronsaye Committee. She also served as the Registrar for Intellectual Property Rights, and as Member, Board of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). She was also made Chairman, inter-Ministerial Committee on improving the World Bank rating of doing business in Nigeria. Furthermore, she facilitated the Coordination and the formulation of policies to enable the adoption of the use of ICT in the MDAs (e- governance) and coordinated the review and updating of the ICT Master Plan and Roadmap in the ICT Sector in liaison with relevant stakeholders to enable the establishment of a robust ICT in governance.
She is a member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) since 1995, SEC 17, and was a Directing staff from February 2023 to December 202. She is now the Ag. Director of Studies
Admission into the SEC Programme is based on nomination by sponsoring organisations through the Office of the Vice-President and the approval of the President. The SEC programme lasts 10 months from February to November each year. The Course is organized along eight modules as follows: Understanding the Nigerian State; Research Methodology; Policy, Strategy and Leadership; Science, Technology and Innovation; Economic and Management Studies; International Relations Studies; Defence and Security Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies.
In addition to the above, compulsory courses in French Language and Computer Appreciation are part of the curriculum.
Participants are divided into study groups each headed by a Directing Staff. The Directing Staff are very senior and highly competent military and para-military officers as well as seasoned academics and technocrats. The very experience and expertise of both in-house experts as well as guest lecturers, drawn from all sectors of society, are tapped to stimulate the thinking of the Participants. Seminars, discussions, group research work and tours feature prominently in the Course. The principle of non-attribution is operated during lectures to provide a free atmosphere for discussions. During each course, tours are undertaken, namely:
The Participants of the SEC programme consist of high level Nigerians drawn from both the public and private sectors of the economy. These include the military and security forces, the civil service at both the federal and state levels, the academia, professional organisations, labour unions, women societies, and other members of the organised private sector. The admission is strictly through nomination by sponsoring organisations and approval by the Office of the President.
A week is set aside during the Course for Sector Specific Measures where heads of respective security agencies are invited to deliver lectures on the role of their organisations on national development as it relates to the theme of the Course. This gives Participants the opportunity to interact with the heads of these agencies which include: Hon. Minister of Defence, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of the Air Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Inspector-General of Police, Director-General, Defence Intelligence Agency, Director General, National Intelligence Agency, Director General, State Security Services, DG National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller General, Nigeria Prisons Service, Comptroller General, Federal Fire Service, Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commission, Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
As part of the SEC Programme, a Strategy and Crisis Game is organized to impart into the Participants skills in crisis and conflict management. At the end of the Crisis Game, a Policy Paper based on the outcome of the Game is usually produced and sent to the Federal Government as the Institute’s input to policy direction in the relevant area(s).
At the inception of the Course, each Study Group is assigned one of the sub-themes to conduct an independent research to be presented at the Plenary towards the end of the Course which is referred to as Concluding Seminar. Eminent Scholars are invited to lead discussions on the papers presented by the Participants, with a view to adding value to the papers. The outcome of the Concluding Seminars usually constitutes the highlight of the Report that is presented to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at a Presidential Parley which is normally held annually at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Every year, Participants are made to defend their individual research projects by Panels composed of combined external and internal examiners. Success at the defence, in addition to meeting other set criteria, determine the successful completion or otherwise of the Course programme.