AUN president urges partnership between govt, private sector for education growth

Margee Ensign, the president, American University of Nigeria (AUN), has taken a critical assessment of Nigeria’s educational system where over 10,000 children are out of school and said there is strong need for collaboration between government and the private sector to resolve education sector challenges. According to her, this collaboration in such areas as information technology and communication (ICT), training of youths as well as facilitating access to active learning contents is important in Nigeria’s quest to become top world economy.

Ensign, who paid a visit to BusinessDay corporate headquarters in Lagos regretted that the number of children out of school in Nigeria is one of the highest in the world.She said educational challenges must be addressed if Nigeria must grow the economy and become one of the strongest economies. She said Nigeria presently needs education and other basic infrastructure in order to accommodate the growing population, believing that Nigeria will be the 3rd largest population by 2045.

The AUN president further pointed out that government and the private sector have an onerous responsibility to contribute to the growth of this critical sector, adding that there is the need to support and improve entrepreneurship training, skills acquisition as these will further keep the youth population out of social vices. “We need to focus on education for the country to have powerful and productive citizens”, she said.
While explaining the role of American University of Nigeria in developing globally competitive students, Ensign said AUN is one of the most technology intensive universities in the world and the most in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to her, “Our digital library was awarded one of the three most innovative uses of digital resources internationally by ALA in 2014.
“As a university, we are the first to have a wireless campus with 24/7 power and access and we are the first university in Africa to start an eBook initiative and to introduce advanced technology in our community”, she added. She further pointed out that it is important that the press gives the security situation in the region peace reign.

“Nobody ventures to see that the place is one of peace and harmony. Yes, some parts of the Northern region of the country are in trouble. I am tired of reading press reports from Lagos and Abuja about the situation in the region. The basic principle should be to go and see before reporting”, she said.
On the role AUN is playing to influence its immediate environment, the school administrator maintained that as a citadel of learning blessed with technology, they are trying to figure out how best they can use this technology effectively, not only to make sure our students get all the e-mailing resources, but the community too.