News
State of Emergency: Growing Army of Half-Baked Graduates
The future of over 80,000 computer science students in the county look bleak unless something urgent is done to underpin the educational curriculum and halt the spiraling decay in the system, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
These students are about to join the growing army of half-baked graduates who are victims of the mess in the current curriculum in Nigeria’s schools because it lacks information and communications technology (ICT) ingredients.
Problems ranging from lack of political will on the part of the government; brain-drain; and poor facilities have all joined hands to prevent Nigeria from producing graduates who can contribute to the creation of knowledge driven economy or so called new economy.
Chris Uwaje, president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (Ispon), described the situation as dire while expressing worries that the country is unwittingly exposing itself to unregulated and unwholesome deployment of foreign application software in key, critical and sensitive areas of the national economy, especially in Federal Government operations.
He said that students under the aegis of Nigerian Association of Computer Science Students (Nacoss) must be bequeathed with laboratories, software incubators and integrated into governments’ contracts execution, as major economic players.
Uwaje also called for a national software development policy and conscious IT legislation to mitigate the negative impact of dearth in infrastructure and bridge the digital divide.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Nigeria’s several attempts to develop a comprehensive blueprint for the ICT sector have failed because they are either short in prescription or deficient in outlook.
Engineer Florence Seriki, managing director/CEO, Omatek Computers, at the recent the stakeholders meeting on the ICT draft policy captured it aptly when she said that the document did not have any incentive to grow ICT based institutions for on-ward manufacturing.
Seriki said that “No ICT document will be such flourishing if it fails to recognize the importance of manufacturing revolved round ICT, diversification of manufacturing.
An ICT based institution may not be fruitful without manufacturing, particularly in SME level. The need for a concerted effort to ensure local content, or locally based manufacturing blueprint cannot be over emphasized.
As it is the draft policy is in short of this aspect economic development, especially as we are targeting vision 20:2020.”
But Uwaje said that Nigeria can still rebuild the economy if it can galvanize the teeming youth into the economic transformation agenda through IT master plan that incorporate software development.
“Nigeria can (in collaboration with her science and technology Diaspora knowledge base) build large software development entities and factories and consequently reduce the nation’s unemployment index by creating abundant employment of about 10 million Nigeria youths, who currently harbour uncountable software factories in their heads; willing to explode and be converted into national wealth, but currently wasting away and forced to sell nothing but pure water” he added.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Uwaje’s call is not new to the government which has consistently ignored 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.
Particularly disturbing is the fact that most Nigerian graduates leave institutions of higher learning without even touching a computer, leaving them without requisite skills to integrate into the ICT driven business environment.
It is still common place to find the traditional chalk and duster approach in school pedagogy because most school teachers from primary to tertiary lack the skills to fully utilize technology in curriculum implementation.
It is so bad that 80per cent of the Nigerian universities and polytechnics, offering Computer Science as a course still include obsolete topics in their curriculum.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek had in recent editorial urged the government to develop an effective curriculum that includes communications, numeracy, information technology, and social skills units, with specific, specialized teaching of each.
The newspaper also urged to government to important to attract and retain qualified and experienced IT lecturers as well as build state_of_the_art laboratories.
This is because education is widely seen as one of the fastest ways to promote development.
The argument is that education empowers people and provides them with skills that stimulate all facets of development.
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has warned the public against the use of substandard and uncertified Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) cylinders.
The warning is coming in the wake of the unfortunate recent incident of CNG cylinder explosion at the NIPCO CNG Refueling Station in Benin City, Edo State.
In a statement, the organisation said it has put robust and effective regulatory measures in place to ensure that all CNG equipment and conversion kits conform to approved standards before being certified for public use.
“The conformity assessment schemes are designed to prevent the import, manufacturing, and use of substandard products,” it stated.
In addition, SON said it is collaborating with the Presidential Initiatives on CNG and other relevant government bodies to finalise the Nigerian Gas Vehicle Monitoring System (NGVMS) – a platform that will provide centralized monitoring and surveillance of CNG systems to ensure that only vehicles equipped with certified conversion kits can access gas at retail outlets.
“The NGVMS will also offer a database of approved CNG equipment and suppliers which will go a long way in preventing the substandard installations and further mitigating the associated risks.”
Access Bank PLC has been named the 2024 Best Digital Award Winner in the Commercial Banks Category at the Digital Jurist Awards, organized by Phillips Consulting (pcl.).
In addition to this top honour, the Bank also secured the Best Website Award, achieving an impressive score of 201 points for its engaging and user-friendly digital experience. Access Bank’s cumulative score of 380 points reflects its excellence across digital touchpoints, including its website, web portal, mobile app, and social media.
Commenting on the recognition, Amaechi Okobi, Chief Communications Officer of Access Holdings PLC, said, “We are honoured to receive the Best Digital and Best Website Awards at this year’s Digital Jurist Awards. At Access, our focus on digital innovation is driven by our commitment to deliver seamless, secure, and customer-centric solutions across all touchpoints.
This recognition validates our ongoing efforts to enhance our digital platforms, making financial services more accessible and efficient for our customers. We thank Phillips Consulting for recognising our efforts and will continue to raise the bar in digital excellence.”
Phillips Consulting has long served as a development partner to Nigerian financial institutions and other organisations with an online presence. Leveraging its proprietary Digital Jurist platform, the firm has conducted assessments of digital touchpoints in various sectors, from financial services and insurance to telecommunications and government agencies, over the past 17 years.
Originally established as Web Jurist®, the platform was reimagined as Digital Jurist to assess new and diversified digital channels in the evolving digital economy. Digital Jurist’s evaluation framework examines a range of factors, including user experience, accessibility, performance, functionality, security, customer service, support, marketing, and content engagement across digital platforms.
These awards reinforce Access Bank’s leadership in digital banking, adding to recent accolades including 2024 Best Digital Bank and Best Mobile Banking App by World Finance, Best Mobile Banking App and Best Digital Bank by The Digital Banker Awards, and Best Digital Banking Initiative at the Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2024.
Rt Hon David Lammy MP, has launched a flagship soft power campaign ‘Jollof and Tea’, which celebrates the UK and Nigeria’s cultural and creative ties.
L-R: UK Deputy High Commissioner, Mr Jonny Baxter; Foreign Secretary, The Rt Hon David Lammy MP; and High Commissioner, Dr. Richard Montgomery… at the British Residence during the launch of the ‘Jollof and Tea’ campaign yesterday in Lagos.
He unveiled the campaign at a reception yesterday in Lagos, on his first visit to Africa as UK Foreign Secretary.
Hosted by the British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Mr Jonny Baxter, the reception was attended by, the Nigerian Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism & Creative Economy, Hon. Musawa Hannatu, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Richard Montgomery, CEO of British Film Institute (BFI), Ben Roberts, and other key figures in the creative industry.
At the launch, the UK Foreign Secretary unveiled a first of its kind phone booth, designed by Frederick ‘Dricky’ Stickman, a young, talented Nigerian graffiti and visual artist, based in Lagos.
He reiterated the UK’s commitment to encouraging talent in Nigeria and diaspora, pledging the UK’s support to strengthen partnerships in the creatives sector to benefit both our economies, including through the British Council which celebrated its 80th anniversary in Nigeria (and 90 years globally) this year.
Commenting on the campaign, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Mr. Jonny Baxter said: “The ‘Jollof and Tea’ campaign is designed to showcase the length and breadth of the UK – Nigeria partnership including the creative and cultural sectors.
“It will help raise awareness about the existing connections between the UK and Nigeria and take forward ongoing efforts by both our countries to strengthen our people-to-people links.”
While in Lagos, the Foreign Secretary attended the closing evening of Art X West Africa’s leading art fair and took a tour of the exhibition alongside Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, founder of Art X.
He also had a mini- bilateral meeting with Hon. Minister Hannatu, to understand Nigeria’s ideas for collaboration with the UK, and how the recently launched UK-Nigeria Enhanced Trade & Investment Partnership (ETIP) can help drive growth in the creative industries.
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