Education

Tinubu is passionate in bridging educational gap in ACP countries – NTAC DG

Published

7 days ago

October 31, 2024

…As Nigeria Deploys 16 TAC Volunteers to Rwanda, Uganda

President Bola Tinubu is passionate in bridging both the educational and professional gap in African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries, an official has said.

The Director-General, Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), said this on Thursday during a deployment exercise for 16 Technical Aid Corps Volunteers (TAC) to be deployed to Republic of Rwanda and Republic of Uganda in East Africa.

The reports have it that the exercise is a pre-departure orientation for the TAC volunteers who are scheduled for a 24-month biennial scheme in Rwanda and Uganda under the service of NTAC as soft power diplomacy.

Yakub said that NTAC was working assiduously to meet the expectations of the President in projecting the foreign policy through soft power diplomacy to the ACP countries.

“The volunteers are expected to project and promote Nigeria as the giant of Africa and the only country in Africa that offers soft power diplomacy to its brothers and sisters.
“We are also meeting up with Mr President’s 4D agenda which are: Development, Democracy, Demography and Diaspora.

“Also in terms of the foreign policy initiatives he has introduced, President Tinubu has a great passion to see our fellow blacks all over the globe specifically in the ACP countries are being catered for in every area of their needs .

“So, today we are deploying some experts to the Eastern African countries of Rwanda and Uganda to serve in various capacities and to impact on the lives of the people.

“The volunteers are mostly engineers in different fields and they are the country’s best who we are sending as ambassadors of Nigeria to impact knowledge on their host communities.
“Nigeria has the best in the world and wherever we find ourselves, we must make sure that we give in our best,’’ he said.

Some TAC volunteers, who spoke at occasion promised to uphold Nigeria’s integrity in their host communities.

Prof. Abdul Isa, a Professor of Agriculture from Abubakar Tafawa Beleawa University, Bauchi, said that the foreign mission came as an opportunity for him to impact knowledge in another country in Africa.

Dr Unwana Ekpe, a PhD holder in Electronic Engineering from Akwa Ibom State University, said, “I am happy to be selected by NTAC to go and represent Nigeria in Uganda; I am particularly happy that out of 10,000 that applied, I was deemed fit to represent the country.

Also, Prof. Jerome Ihuma, Professor of Ecosystems Management, Forest Biology and Ecology, Bingham University, Karu, said that he was delighted to be selected as a TAC volunteer among the over 10,000 entries sent by professionals to NTAC.

“I am delighted to be among the volunteers, for me to be here, it means NTAC is not bias and sincere to all Nigerians.”

NAN

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Education

NAE calls for state of emergency in education sector

Published

28 mins ago

November 7, 2024

The Gleamer

Mariam sanni

The Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare state of emergency in education sector in order to holistically address the rot and decadence in the system.

The Academy has also urged the Federal Government to stop running of secondary schools and as such handover all the 115 Federal Government Colleges to the states with comprehensive conditions.

NAE President, Professor Kabiru Isyaku, made the call in his welcome speech at the 38th Annual Congress, 2024, holding in Abuja from 5th to 8th November, with the theme: “Nigerian Education System: Past, Present & Future.

The event witnessed the induction of 26 new members and elevation of three deserving members to the Fellowship level. Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was also honoured by the Academy in recognition of his outstanding contributions to development of in Nigeria.

Lamenting the appalling state of education in Nigeria, Isyaku, suggested that there is the need to declare emergency in the sector because it affects all other sectors of the nation’s economy.

He revealed that the National Policy on Education was last reviewed over 10 years ago, saying that the declaration of emergency would allow government to assemble experts for the policy review, and to critically address issues like status of education in the Constitution, structure, funding, and relevance of the current Curriculum.

He added that issues of evaluation and certification should be addressed comprehensively enough to cover all levels and everything to do with education with all stakeholders be it Local, State, Federal Government, employers, religious and other development partners, since Education is the responsibility of all.

Isyaku, observed that currently, there is no synergy between the Federal and State Government that could enhance smooth development of education in the country.

He called for adequate remuneration of personnel in educational institutions while ensuring release of their salaries and other entitlements as and when due.

He described as aberration the running of primary and secondary schools by the Federal Government, insisted that this does not happen anywhere in the world.

“The Federal Government, at this stage of the country’s development, should not directly run secondary Schools. Instead, FGN should only be in charge of Policy and Quality Assurance. Thus, all Federal Government Colleges should be devolved to the states with comprehensive conditions,” he said.

The Nigerian Academy of Education condemned proliferation of educational institutions by Federal State Governments and called for moratorium on the establishment of new institutions, until the current ones are fully equipped and with adequate personnel as required by the regulatory agencies.

The keynote speaker, Prof. Alhas Maicibi Nok, of Faculty of Education, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, bemoaned the high level of corruption in management of educational institutions in the country.

He argued that even though education is faced with the problem of poor funding, the major challenge is the misappropriation of the little resources allocated to the institutions.

Nok raised several posers as to the integrity of those who are appointed to head educational institutions in the country, saying even appointment of Vice-chancellors is usually characterised with nepotism and other parochial interests.

While speaking on the decline in quality of teaching and learning in schools, he noted a trend were teachers in most schools teach students for examination instead of teaching for knowledge, adding that this has also fueled sharp practices were marks are no longer earned by students but bought with money or sex for marks among other unwholesome practices.

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