‘Ópon Imo’, a Priceless Social Contract

Knowledge is power. Conventional wisdom can attest that the educated population of the society is predisposed to fulfillment, and a better understanding of the world.

Despite the compelling need to raise a new generation of ICT driven graduates, Nigerian leaders still pay no attention to the complete makeover of the schools’ curriculum.

When they pretend they pay attention, it is too little to make any impact and that why the country has continued to produce semi educated school leavers.

It is unfortunate that in this modern age, most Nigerian graduates still leave institutions of higher learning without even touching a computer, leaving them without requisite skills to integrate into the ICT driven business environment.

This is the sorry state of the school system in the country where the overall ingredients needed to galvanise Nigeria’s beleaguered economy is in short supply.

From the high cost price of computer hardware and software to apathy and to lack of concerted investment in information technology training, Nigerian graduates have remained inferior to their counterparts’ elsewhere.

But in Osun State, a sweeping revolution is taking place.

It is the state’s Ópon Imo’, a digital tablet of knowledge borne out of the need to develop an efficient knowledge economy and the state's desire to build knowledge based society.

It is best social contract yet by any state government in Nigeria and one that sits at the core of societal regeneration.

Apart from saving Osun state some N8.4 billion annually on conventional books; ‘Opon Imo’ affords students, easy access to knowledge necessary for brilliant performances in various examinations.

The tablet is preloaded with lesson notes in 17 subjects offered by students in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), National Examination Council (NECO), and Senior School Certificate in Education (SSCE).

 It also contains six extra-curricular subjects, including sexuality education, Yoruba history and Yoruba traditional religion.

Interestingly, there are over 40,000 past examination questions spanning a period of 10 years for private simulation practice, are all embedded in the digital tablet.

Apart from the e-text books that are embedded in the tablet, it also has 51 video tutorials installed as study aid.

We congratulate Rauf Aregbesola led government in the state for being the first Nigerian leader to pay serious attention to the complete makeover of the educational system.

The state must rest on its oars; it must go a step further to ensure that the wonder tablets are distributed to every student in the state.

The managers of the project must also ensure that beneficiaries return the tablets after use so that others can benefit too.

Importantly, the state along with ‘Ipon Imo’ should build a functional and qualitative education of the highest possible standards at basic, post-basic and tertiary levels.

We urge other governors and indeed the federal government to pay more attention to the creation of knowledge driven economy.