The Minister for education, Malam Adamu Adamu has stressed the importance of technical and vocational education to the country’s pragmatic industrial growth and economic development.
Adamu, who said this at the 30th convocation of the Yaba College of Technology, where he was represented by the ministry’s Director of Science and Technology,Mr. Joel Samuel-Ojo, noted that education played a key role in the development of any nation. The minister added that was why the Federal Government had made education a major focus of the present administration.
According to him, tertiary institutions had a fundamental role to play, particularly in the area of manpower development, research and innovation as well as in forging collaboration with the private sector.
He said, “In the face of rapid technological changes in the 21st century, tertiary institutions must keep abreast of contemporary global trends and be able to adapt cutting edge technologies, innovation and research for the growth and development of their environment.”
The minister urged tertiary institutions to make conscious efforts in researching and sourcing for local content that would enhance the manufacturing and production processes even in hyper-competitive environment.
In the face of rapid technological changes in the 21st century, tertiary institutions must keep abreast of contemporary global trends
Adamu stressed that tertiary institutions must vigorously embrace the culture of research towards internalising the production process.
“As we address the structural imbalances in our economy and concentrate on developing our human capital, our institutions must key into this model and provide manpower training to service the local economy. They must also focus our graduates to utilise resources and opportunities in our environment as factors to stimulate their creativity and unleash their potential to create wealth in our peculiar environment”, he said.
The minister also stressed the need for change to start in the educational institutions, where future leaders are made.
“In the light of this, managers of these institutions are urged to continually instill discipline in the system. There has to be change of attitude and adherence to the culture of Due Process, if we must achieve the desired change. This government would appreciate prudent management of resources in a transparent manner by those entrusted with that responsibility”, he said.
Giving the scorecard of her administration, the Rector of the institution, Dr. Magret Ladipo, said that the college pursued a rigorous staff development regime, which had led to an increase in the number of staff with PhD from 13 in 2009 to 78 in 2016.
