Minister identifies Nigeria’s educational challenges

The Federal Government says the country’s higher education is characterized with inadequate funding, corruption, strike, brain drain, poor research, weak governance and insecurity.

Prof Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, advocated the total overhauling of the higher education system to make the universities and other tertiary institutions at par with others around the globe.

He made the observation in Abuja on Wednesday while declaring open the 8th edition of the Libsense Open Science Symposium, organised by the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) in partnership with the West and Central African Research Education Network and other partners.

The Minister represented by the Director of University Education in the ministry, Rakiya Ilyasu, assured that the ministry was committed to fostering the role of science through partnership from shared knowledge.

He explained that it informed President Bola Tinubu’s decision to increase the education budget to 25 per cent with the right policies in place.

The Minister noted, “We need to know the extent at which we have met contemporary demands of tertiary education globally and if it is not sufficient, how to address them.”

He appealed to the Committee of the Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities to provide the committee with a quality memorandum of how the education sector can be competitive in all ramifications.

The Secretary General of the committee, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, opined that there was a need to explore innovative ways on the scientific future of the country.

Represented by Vice Chancellor, Kaduna State University, Prof. Abdullahi Musa, he said that the conference was apt and would help uncover innovative ways towards research development, as well as foster collaboration to new opportunities.