By Felix Khanoba
The Federal Government says the ongoing Research Fair/Exhibition organised by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is key to tackling some of the major challenges bedeviling the country.
Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, made this known at a press conference to herald the national research fair on Sunday in Abuja.
“I am excited and happy to inform you that this special effort of TETFund is meant to encourage our Academia composed of Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Research Institutes, the Military and other personal/community creativities, to respond to many critical needs for our National Development.
“Nigeria is well blessed with abundant institutions, intellectual professionals and natural resources. It cannot afford to divorce herself from the race and quest of the present trend of Nations evolving knowledge economies. At this time of our democratic development, yes, Nigeria is facing a number of challenges including youth underemployment, poverty effects, insecurity and infrastructure decay, etc, but we believe that the contributions of professionals as will be seen in this National Research Fair will be greatly needed in tackling many of such challenges, ” he said.
While saying President Bola Tinubu has already made it clear that his Renewed Hope Agenda would mainly be implemented based on local Research and Technology outputs, the Minister said nowhere in the world can economic growth be achieved without the full use of outputs of research and technology efforts, even as he called for synergy among relevant research bodies.
“This Research Fair will also address the desired synergy amongst all the relevant Research & Technology agencies to fast track the deployment of their efforts and results towards nation building. This synergy will ensure that the dividends of democracy are delivered efficiently and our Research and Innovation institutions that are now scattered in many ministries are well coordinated to be effective,” he said
While recognizing and appreciating TETFund for deepening research in the country, the Minister said President Tinubu has issued directive that will see to the translation of National Research & Innovation results into marketable products to ensure job and wealth creations.
“The government is committed to deploy Research and Innovation tools to generate wealth and create wealth. In 2024 alone, Mr President has approved the investment of N5 billion by TETFund to support research activities under its National Research Fund efforts so as to ensure that appropriate research is conducted in our public tertiary institutions to evolve solutions to many of our National development challenges,” Alausa posited.
Speaking further, the minister announced a restructuring of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system to ensure that 80 per cent of the curriculum focuses on practical work.
He criticised the current structure of technical education, which emphasises didactic methods over practical experience.
“The way technical education has been structured is not the best because we focus heavily on didactics.
“We have met with the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to change the structure.
“We are now clearly changing the TVET structure from didactics to skill acquisition, we will now do 20 per cent didactics and 80 per cent practical, and that’s how we are going to move forward”.
The minister also stated the need to realign the country’s education system to better address the needs of Nigerians, particularly in the area of lifelong skills.
“We have a unique demography in the world, 220 million people, with 70 per cent of them under the age of 30.
“We need to work and give these young men and women, who are energetic, ready to learn, and contribute to this country, the right skills,” he said.
