Speaking in Abuja on Monday at the opening of a two-day workshop on Blackboard/Tertiary Education, Research, Applications and Services (TERAS) Adoption and Usage, Echono said many universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education still underutilise government-funded digital platforms despite the urgent need to expand access to quality learning.

He explained that with Nigeria’s rapidly growing population and limited classroom space, technology provides the only realistic means to deliver education to millions of young people. “We are no longer confined to the four walls of classrooms. With just an Android phone or device, students should be able to access content, participate in learning, and acquire skills. There is no alternative to technology if we must prepare our youths for the opportunities ahead,” he said.

Echono lamented that equipment and platforms procured with public funds were gathering dust, describing such neglect as wasteful. He recalled TETFund’s intervention during the COVID-19 lockdown, when it collaborated with state governments, the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), and radio stations to broadcast WAEC syllabus-based lessons, a move he said contributed to one of the country’s best WAEC results.

Despite these efforts, Nigeria ranks 189th globally and 25th in Africa in education competitiveness, far behind countries like Rwanda and Mauritius that have leveraged ICT to transform their systems. Echono urged institutional leaders to ensure lecturers and students fully adopt TERAS, a platform designed by TETFund to support teaching, research, and administration.

He added that the agency would gradually channel more than half of its budget into ICT-related projects rather than physical buildings, stressing that universities must populate their websites with data and onboard all staff and students onto TERAS.

Highlighting China as an example of how investment in knowledge can power national growth, Echono expressed frustration that some institutions still submit hardcopy requests to TETFund instead of using digital channels. “The government has done its part by providing the infrastructure. But when platforms are not being used, that is the very definition of waste,” he said.

TETFund’s Director of ICT, Joseph Odo, said the ongoing workshops would be extended to all six geopolitical zones to improve awareness and strengthen collaboration among beneficiary institutions. According to him, the aim is to build a culture of digital adoption that enhances planning, research, and learning outcomes across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

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TECH DIGEST – Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy have instructed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to use emerging technology to boost the country’s education sector. Emerging technology trends are assisting educators in improving the delivery of educational services and assisting practitioners in achieving better communication between teachers and students.

On a recent working visit to his office in Abuja, Pantami received the management of TETFUND, led by the Executive Secretary, Sunday S.T. Echono, who spoke about how schools are increasingly adopting emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality to remodel how today’s classroom works.

READALSO: Google Assures Pantami Of Support For Nigeria’s Digital Economy

Whether it’s Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, 3D Printing, Robotics, Adaptive Learning Algorithms, Asynchronous Learning and Microlearning, Live Streaming from school to school, school to expert, or remote teaching and learning, emerging technologies are redefining education, according to Panatmi.

According to the minister, the use of blockchain technology in Nigeria’s higher institutions will assist maintain data integrity and increase efficiency in the administration of certificates, transcripts, and records, among other things.

According to Echono, the TETFUND team is looking to collaborate with the ministry in the areas of internet for education, broadband penetration, subsidized data for educational content, data hosting, thesis digitization, and hybrid education facilitation.

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TECH DIGEST – The Senate has passed a bill to establish the Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Ogoja, Cross River state, which was sponsored by Senator Stephen Adi Odey representing River North Senatorial.

The passage of the bill was concurrently carried out alongside the upgrade of the Maritime Academy Oron, in Akwa Ibom state to the status of a full fledged university.

The bills were passed by the upper chamber after the presentation and consideration of two separate reports by the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND.

Recalled that the sponsor of the bill, Senator Stephen Adi Odey presented the bill for consideration for the first time in the Senate Chamber on Thursday, 11 February 2021, and sponsored five (5) Bill within the space of about 5 months in the Red Chamber.

While reading the bill on the floor of the Senate, senator Odey said: “Information and Communication Technology cannot be overlooked in the 21st century without dire consequences. The world has long moved from an analogue model to a digital one and this digitalization of human activities keeps assuming different dimensions daily with the launch of diverse computer software and programme. In order not to lag behind, Nigeria must pay particular attention to the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

“The Government of Nigeria, the private sector and Nigerians spends humongous amount of money yearly to purchase software and maintain social network accounts developed by youths of other nations. Apart from being a risk to our digital safety, this is another means through which our scarce foreign reserves get depleted. In recognition of the impact of Digital Economy in the global stage, the Ministry of Communications was renamed Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy on 17 October 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“President Buhari has taken a path which we must follow. Our nation is not short of youths who can be trained to become professionals in the area of Information and Communications Technology. We must ensure that we provide a conduce atmosphere for such specialized training in order to assist them in solving our local problems in peculiar ways and in exporting their talent to other nations which will in turn positively impact on our economy,” he said.

He noted that the institution will create job employment for youths to address the issue of insecurity across the country.

“Provide full-time and part-time courses in Information and Communication Technology, Engineering Technology, Applied Sciences, Management Sciences and other fields of study leading to the award of Ordinary National Diploma, Higher National Diploma, and certificates in specialized programmes;

“To provide facilities and encourage research in all its area of focus to aid the development of Nigeria in the areas of industry, commerce, Technology and engineering; and a well-developed and articulate technical education through consistent research, development and constant contact with renowned institutions and appropriate industries; as well as appropriate training and vocational dexterity for a self reliant and focused Nigerian student, and also to provide industrial skills for those who want to be employers of labour or gainfully employed,”

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TECH DIGEST – The Tertiary Education Fund (TETfund) is focusing its intervention on 13 thematic areas of research and development.

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of TetFund, Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro disclosed this in an interview with Economic Confidential in Abuja.

According to him, its special committee of professionals are expected to drive TetFund’s intervention policy in public tertiary institutions towards the nation’s economic and technological competitiveness and ensure a paradigm shift in research and development in the country.

He listed the thematic areas to include education, agriculture, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and digital economy, engineering, defense and military, energy, environment and bio-resources, Medicine, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, industrialization and infrastructure development.

He said the move was to pursue the drive for the institutionalization of research and development.

According to him, the Committee has started work in earnest and is moving round this country. They are moving round to meet the big guns in the industries and the private sector.

He noted that “in the most competitive economies, the greatest of technologies, it is all about knowledge. It is about science, technology and innovation (STI), largely, and of course leadership that shows the right way, and gives the right example going forward.

Asked whether the development was a tall order that may face challenges in the coming days, Professor Bogoro said” Not at all. We are encouraged by the support of the Hon Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu as well as the commitment and backing of President Muhammadu Buhari in this direction. I am glad to inform you that President Muhammad Buhari has graciously taken significant steps in providing a framework for the development of science and technology by mainstreaming it into the country’s national development strategies”.

He posited that Science, Technology and Innovation has come to stay in the country as it can be viewed with the lens of 50 per cent increment in the National Research Fund(NRF) of TetFund in the 2020 approved budget.

He further stated that the Board of Trustees of TetFund having realized the position of content development, especially the place of research and development in global ranking of tertiary institutions, recommended the increment of the NRF, adding that currently, the NRF is the foremost and largest funding window for research and development in Nigeria.

In his reaction as to why the agency is currently targeting research and development as apriority, the versatile professor said “we are happy to elevate research and development in identifying the right priorities going forward. The greatest of nations, the greatest of economy, and the greatest of technology are all hinged on quality education, and it is research that defines quality education.

He argued that the US and Russia, are using research to develop their military and technological mind for economic advantage, stressing that it has become necessary for government, the academia and industry to interface in a sustainable manner that produced goods and services for local consumption and export, adding that any research that did not hold out commercial possibilities was an effort in futility against emerging realities.

The 162-member committee on R&D were drawn from a pool of Nigerian researchers, innovators, representatives of relevant MDAs, and the private sector.

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