• Says varsities should produce innovators, entrepreneurs, moral leaders
•Calls for stronger business partnerships, analysis commercialisation
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Executive Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has known 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 abilities, entrepreneurial capability and the power to resolve real-world issues.
Okonkwo, who delivered the 14th convocation lecture of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), yesterday, stated 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 instructional outcomes sufficiently with modern 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 modern, productive, globally aggressive and socially cohesive nation.
According to him, the speedy development of synthetic intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, superior manufacturing and different rising applied sciences has essentially 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 govt warned that graduate unemployment, underemployment and chronic abilities mismatches mirrored a disconnect between instructional outcomes and nationwide growth 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 stated.
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 now not be handled as an optionally available course or a tutorial 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 stated, needs 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 functions to handle native and world challenges.
He additionally known as for stronger collaboration amongst universities, business and authorities, stressing that analysis should translate into sensible options, industrial merchandise and productive enterprises moderately 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 stated.
He argued that Nigeria’s universities should more and more be evaluated by their capacity to produce competent graduates, assist entrepreneurship, commercialise analysis and contribute measurably to nationwide growth, moderately than relying totally on enrolment figures, commencement charges and the variety of accredited programmes.
Besides, he known as for the revitalisation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), alongside renewed funding in polytechnics, engineering workshops, fabrication laboratories and fashionable technical services.
According to him, industrialisation and financial diversification require a gentle 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 fashionable economic system.
“Digital competence is no longer an advantage; it is an essential requirement for productive citizenship,” he stated.
Okonkwo additionally emphasised the significance of ethical formation, arguing that technical experience and entrepreneurial capacity wouldn’t ship sustainable nationwide growth with out integrity, accountability and accountable management.
He warned {that a} society might produce extremely expert professionals and achieved entrepreneurs but undermine its progress by way 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 targets, Okonkwo proposed a complete reform agenda encompassing competency-based curricula, stronger business partnerships, analysis commercialisation, structured industrial coaching, funding in innovation infrastructure and a assessment of how universities and polytechnics are assessed.
He stated accreditation ought to more and more measure what graduates can really design, construct, create, analysis, produce, handle and resolve, moderately 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 stated.
He additionally advocated stronger partnerships between instructional establishments and employers to make sure that college students acquire sensible expertise earlier than commencement.
Using the partnership between United Nigeria Airlines and ABUAD for example, 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 stated 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 last word measure of their training, however to exhibit their studying by way of sensible contributions to society.
