Worried by the low rating of graduates from Nigerian schools, the American Business Council (ABC) has rallied stakeholders to push for innovative skill and entrepreneurial driven learning in Nigeria’s education system.
Speaking at a workshop held in Abuja recently on ‘Skills for Innovation and Positioning Nigeria,’ organised by American Business Council (ABC) in partnership with Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Margaret Olele, chief executive officer of the Council, said there is need to drive skills for innovation in Nigeria, address critical challenges in the educational space, and create an advocacy plan to improve Nigeria’s educational framework.
According to her, it has also become very critical for stakeholders to drive initiatives such as Intels Student/Teachers Purchasing Programme, redefine learning across Nigeria’s institutions and build a curriculum that can meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in order to equip Nigerian graduates to compete favourably.
Bongo Adi, professor of Economics from Lagos Business School (LBS) pointed out that outdated curriculum was a major challenge to developing innovative skills in Nigeria.
While pointing out the need to redesign the curriculum to become industrial driven, Adi said that progress has been made on the white paper on skills for innovation and positioning Nigeria, towards making Nigerian graduates employable.
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Tinuke Temitope of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for partnership between tertiary institutions and industries through internship for undergraduates and graduates. She said such creates opportunities for students to learn on the job.
Rita Amuchienwa, country executive, Intel said there is the need for the educational system to move from analogue to digital in order to make graduates become innovative and also have the right skills for industrialisation.
“Digitalisation is the solution to every problem that is in education. Using a computer from scratch will take a child to where he or she will be. We should start from kindergarten because whatever you input into a child he or she will grow to think, evaluate and analyse better,” she said.
On his part, Ahamad Kaita, chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, said the Committee is working closely with other education bodies to ensure Nigerian students in tertiary institutions become skillful, productive and entrepreneurial at the completion of their studies.
According to him, the committee is working with the Federal Ministry of Education, TETFUND, Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).
