• Says varsities should produce innovators, entrepreneurs, moral leaders
•Calls for stronger trade partnerships, analysis commercialisation
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Executive Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has referred to as for a elementary overhaul of Nigeria’s training system, urging a shift from certificate-driven studying to competence-based training that equips graduates with sensible expertise, entrepreneurial capability and the flexibility to remedy real-world issues.
Okonkwo, who delivered the 14th convocation lecture of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), yesterday, mentioned Nigeria’s nationwide renewal trusted aligning training with the nation’s developmental wants, technological transformation and the calls for of the worldwide data economic system.
In his lecture titled: “Functional Education and the Nigerian Project: Strategic Human Capital Development for National Renewal,” he argued that the problem confronting the nation was not the absence of practical training however the failure to align academic outcomes sufficiently with up to date financial and social realities.
He added that the nation should intentionally reposition its greater training system to develop the human capital required to construct an revolutionary, productive, globally aggressive and socially cohesive nation.
According to him, the fast development of synthetic intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, superior manufacturing and different rising applied sciences has basically modified the necessities for financial competitiveness, making it crucial for universities and polytechnics to look past the variety of graduates they produce.
“Universities and polytechnics can no longer define success merely by the number of graduates they produce or the certificates they award. The more important question is whether their graduates possess the knowledge, skills, dispositions and practical competencies required to create value in an increasingly knowledge-driven, technology-enabled and globally competitive economy,” he acknowledged.
The airline government warned that graduate unemployment, underemployment and chronic expertise mismatches mirrored a disconnect between academic outcomes and nationwide improvement priorities.
He maintained that greater training shouldn’t merely put together younger folks to search jobs however equip them to create enterprises, generate improvements, strengthen establishments and contribute meaningfully to society.
“The true purpose of higher education is not merely to prepare graduates to seek employment but to equip them to create knowledge, generate innovation, solve problems, establish enterprises, strengthen institutions and improve society,” he mentioned.
Okonkwo recognized technical {and professional} competence, innovation and problem-solving, entrepreneurship, digital literacy and moral management as 5 important capabilities that Nigerian graduates should purchase to stay related within the altering world economic system.
He argued that entrepreneurship ought to not be handled as an elective course or an instructional requirement confined to enterprise colleges, however as a philosophy that encourages initiative, creativity, resilience, alternative recognition and accountable risk-taking throughout all disciplines.
Engineering college students, he mentioned, ought to be inspired to commercialise prototypes, agricultural graduates ought to develop options throughout the agricultural worth chain, whereas laptop scientists ought to create digital platforms and synthetic intelligence purposes to tackle native and world challenges.
He additionally referred to as for stronger collaboration amongst universities, trade and authorities, stressing that analysis should translate into sensible options, industrial merchandise and productive enterprises somewhat than stay confined to tutorial publications.
“Our universities and polytechnics must increasingly become centres where ideas are transformed into products, patents evolve into enterprises, and scientific discoveries contribute directly to economic growth,” he mentioned.
He argued that Nigeria’s universities should more and more be evaluated by their skill to produce competent graduates, help entrepreneurship, commercialise analysis and contribute measurably to nationwide improvement, somewhat than relying totally on enrolment figures, commencement charges and the variety of accredited programmes.
Besides, he referred to as for the revitalisation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), alongside renewed funding in polytechnics, engineering workshops, fabrication laboratories and trendy technical services.
According to him, industrialisation and financial diversification require a gradual provide of expert technicians, technologists and engineering professionals able to supporting home manufacturing and technological development.
He additional advocated the mixing of synthetic intelligence and digital literacy into programmes throughout disciplines, noting that technological competence had change into important for productive participation within the trendy economic system.
“Digital competence is no longer an advantage; it is an essential requirement for productive citizenship,” he mentioned.
Okonkwo additionally emphasised the significance of ethical formation, arguing that technical experience and entrepreneurial skill wouldn’t ship sustainable nationwide improvement with out integrity, accountability and accountable management.
He warned {that a} society may produce extremely expert professionals and achieved entrepreneurs but undermine its progress by means of corruption, weak establishments and an absence of moral management.
According to him, universities should due to this fact produce graduates whose mental talents are matched by integrity, self-discipline, compassion and a dedication to the general public good.
To obtain these aims, Okonkwo proposed a complete reform agenda encompassing competency-based curricula, stronger trade partnerships, analysis commercialisation, structured industrial coaching, funding in innovation infrastructure and a evaluate of how universities and polytechnics are assessed.
He mentioned accreditation ought to more and more measure what graduates can really design, construct, create, analysis, produce, handle and remedy, somewhat than focusing predominantly on curriculum content material and institutional inputs.
“The guiding principle should be simple: education must produce capability, because the ultimate measure of an educational system is not the certificates it awards, but the capacity it creates in its people to build, solve, innovate and transform society,” he mentioned.
He additionally advocated stronger partnerships between academic establishments and employers to be certain that college students achieve sensible expertise earlier than commencement.
Using the partnership between United Nigeria Airlines and ABUAD for instance, he disclosed that roughly 20 final-year aeronautical and aerospace engineering college students would undertake structured industrial coaching with the airline yearly below a renewable 10-year framework.
He mentioned the pioneer cohort had commenced a six-month sensible programme on the airline’s engineering facility in Lagos, the place the scholars have been receiving publicity to plane upkeep, avionics, security procedures {and professional} aviation practices.
Addressing the graduating college students, Okonkwo urged them not to regard their certificates as the final word measure of their training, however to exhibit their studying by means of sensible contributions to society.
