‘Only culture of science, technology will drive education growth’

The need for managers of the Nigeria education system to urgently embrace a more robust culture of science and technology in order to compete favourably among the comity of nations has again being stressed.

Industry watchers observe that the nation over the years have only focused on copying ideas from colonial masters that have not helped solve the peculiar challenge we have rather than explore the huge potential inherent in technology-based planning.
Uzo Nwaije, chairman of Finlab Nigeria limited made the observation while speaking as guest lecturer at the 2015 Annual reunion dinner / award of University of Nigeria Alumni Association in Lagos.

Nwaije in his lecture titled: The future of education in Nigeria: culture of science and technology stressed that Nigeria cannot develop as a nation until it starts to practise the culture of science and technology to solving her problems.

He observed that the nation’s universities were still producing ill-equipped and half-baked graduates in specialised fields like engineering, who are not competent enough to contribute to the development of the country.

He said the challenge facing the country stems from the inabilobity of the managers of the various systems of government to prioritise the problems identified and work out possible solution that would move the nation forward.

“All the countries that have developed have done so using their own ideas; they have their own problem but have devised means of solving the problems themselves.

“Since independence, we have copied so many things but as things stand, no of these copied approach have worked for the nation be it the educational, medical and health systems” he said.

According to him, the non-implementation of the policy of technology education had led to the rot being experienced in Nigeria’s universities, nowadays.

He however opined that we should generate our own ideas to solve our own problems and move forward stressing that to make the nation’s education sector and indeed all sectors useful, exciting, creative, adventurous, there is the urgent need to drive the science and technology culture for any meaningful advancement the nation hopes to make.

Pat Utomi, a professor and founder of Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL), and an alumnus of the institution while speaking at the event advocated a collaborative action from both public and private sectors to address the challenge of education.
He observed that there is no way we expect only government to fix the challenge of education.