From Desmond Mgboh Kano
The President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, has renewed his commitment to education in Nigeria, while insisting on paying greater attention to skill, technology and vocational training as core drivers of the educational system in Nigeria. .
Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman stated this at the 38 convocation ceremony of Bayero University Kano on Saturday in Kano.
“We will continue to support education because of our strong believe that our survival can only be assured by the quality of our human capital development” he stated.
He said that in this light, the administration was building 24 skills and vocational hubs in polytechnics and entrepreneurship centres in universities adding that it was also reviving 970 Shanghai centres for integrated learning and development of Almagiria system.
“We are also building 91 vocational schools in the secondary schools across the country to ensure that all levels of education enjoy the impact of our policy” he stated while adding that government was set to inagurate Private Sector Innovation Enterprise Centre across the country to deliver on the skill acquisition program of the government.
He however urged the universities to upscale and adjust to the modern day world by repositioning themselves as citadel of education that will bring about development.
“As a government, we are also determined to continue support the upgrade of infrastructure and, research equipment in our universities, which the need assessment of Nigeria’s public universities is addressing.” he said.
In the quest for greater performance and productivity, Tinubu revealed that the administration had lifted tertiary institutions from the IPPS platform of research, increased allocation to the educational sector in 2024 and operationalize the students loan scheme.
He drew attention to the recent guidelines for good governance and adherence to financial regulations as approved by the Federal Executive Council and strongly advised universities to heed to those guidelines as serious consequences will apply to any breech.