NOVEMBER 2004 NEWS COLLECTIONS!!!! UNESCO trains 24 NBTE, poly staff Why we have massive under-enrolment in Lagos primary schools, by Lawal Why anti-poverty scheme failed, by official ETF Signs MoU with Microsoft Nigeria, China Sign Economic, Tech Agreement Federal Government Takes Vocational Education To Secondary Schools A Case for Nigerian Varsities Participation in S&T The state of polytechnic education Digital library for varsities takes off with British Council FG Inaugurates Committee on Distance Learning

NEWS ARCHIVE: October 2004 News July 2004 News March 2004 News October - November 2003 News

UNESCO trains 24 NBTE, poly staff

The Guardian November 18, 2004

AT least 24 members of staff of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the polytechnics selected from across the six geo-political zones are to undergo training under the auspices of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for the Support of Revitalising Technical and Vocational Education.

The training workshop, which is third in the series of train-the-trainers workshops organised since its inception in 2001, is scheduled to hold at the Kaduna Polytechnic Staff Development Centre from the 17th to 26th of this month.

The trainees, who are of the rank of chiefs, principals and senior lecturers, were drawn from the departments of accounting, banking and finance, secretariat studies and marketing.

The Executive Secretary of NBTE, Dr. Nuru A. Yakubu who is also the National Project Co-ordinator of the UNESCO - Nigerian TVE project, said that the project had trained over 3000 staff in its Staff Development Centres spread across the six geo-political zones and the NBTE centre.

He said that the aim of the training programme was to enhance staff ability and competence in the effective management of resources and in passing their skills and competence to their students. The programme, according to him, would also provide the means to ensure the upgrading and updating of the knowledge and skills among members of staff to match the development in technology and society's needs.

The national project co-ordinator explained that staff development and curricula review programmes of the project were recording successes with another batch of ND/HND in Science Laboratory Technology and Computer Science curricula scheduled for review between 17th and 26th of this month.

Yakubu who disclosed that curricula of more than 30 ND/HND programmes had been reviewed since the commencement of the Project in 2001, expressed optimism that at the end of the project, major problems confronting TVE in Nigeria, which required urgent attention would have been addressed.

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Why we have massive under-enrolment in Lagos primary schools, by Lawal

The Guardian November 17, 2004

Many residents of Lagos State would hardly admit the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration had made any impact on the education sector. Reason being that five years on, infrastructures of many public schools evokes tears, at the extent of their dilapidation. This had reinforced the loss of confidence in the public school system. But to the Commissioner of Education, Professor Olakunle Lawal, the situation is not totally horrendous, even though he admitted the public education sector has lost patronage due to the long years of neglect. He spoke with YINKA ADERIBIGBE on a long-list of interventions embarked upon by the administration at the primary and secondary levels. 

Excerpt:

On the neglect of public schools.

I challenge anybody to say we have not done enough. If anybody comes out to accuse us of ineptitude, it must be due to his ignorance. What have we done? You talk about physical neglect of the physical infrastructures. Bola Tinubu is five years old in government. Lagos State was created in 1967 and over the years, instead of people (governments) maintaining these structures, they would rather build new ones. It is only Tinubu who has at the primary school level been rehabilitating schools. Let me give you three examples, one, you have Bola Ahmed Tinubu Intervention (BATI), they are all over the place. You have the State Primary Education Board (SPEB) projects, then you have a very effective utilisation of the Education Tax Fund (ETF) that the state has received over the last five years, with which we have built over 2,000 classrooms. I'm not saying building classrooms, so if you say one block that could have six classrooms, that gives you an idea of what we have done across the state, that is at the primary school level. This is not politics. Indeed, the problem in Lagos State now is that we have massive enrolment of pupils in our secondary schools, but we are still combating with the challenge of under-enrolment in our public primary schools. To the extent that we have so many unutilised classrooms. This is because we have allowed the sprouting of private institutions. The top of the billing private institutions in this country are to be found in Lagos. This is because our government has allowed them to establish these schools. So if you move to the secondary school level what do you find, you have three categories of interventions of the government. The very first one is unprecedented in the annals of education in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, where you have the millennium school environment where you have 39 classrooms on one site, 60 conveniences to accommodate the need for discriminations between the male and female sexes. You have one standard laboratory for computer science, you have three standard laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology, you have two standard offices for school managers and three large size staff rooms and a quadrangle. This effectively presents to any fair-minded observer the understanding and the perception of the governor of what an ideal school environment should be.

In the past, what we have are the government colleges, established by Governor Mobolaji Johnson, the improvements made by Shamsudeen Adekunle Lawal and Ndubisi Kanu and Ebitu Ukiwe, then you have the massive constructions of the Alhaji Lateef Jakande schools, which solved the problem of massive school enrolment of the 1979-83 period and eliminated the three shifts being run in Lagos schools up till that period. Then you have Governor Gbolahan Mudasiru, who came with prototype schools, after him you have the concept of the model college established by Governor Mike Akhigbe, meant to be a standard of measure for the public secondary school system in the state and subsequent governments after him continued to build one thing or another, but unfortunately many of these previous governments never do much rehabilitation. As a result of that you have large accumulated bill or accumulated decay that this government is trying to address frontally.

How has he being doing this?
Since he became governor five years ago, Governor Tinubu has engaged in massive construction and provision of school furniture, the records are there. Then poverty alleviation and creating a level playing ground for everybody to acquire education is epitomised by the decision by his excellence Bola Tinubu to introduce parents' financial support scheme for all students irrespective of social class, creed, religion to pay for students' terminal examination fees. Since year 1999, this government has been paying terminal examination fees for all schools in Lagos State.

What is the cost of these fees up to date?
I can only give you the current figure. This year we have paid N214 million to WAEC and we have spent N93 million for the junior school certificate examination. Another N49 million was spent by the government to provide practical science equipment in all public schools. Of course we paid for unified examinations for all public schools in the state. These are benefits enjoyed by all students who attend any of our public schools. Let us examine our contributions objectively, you will discover that this administration had tried, we have even been breaking new grounds. We have established new schools for communities who hitherto had not had schools. Look at Orisumbare and Olorunda communities, they are located at the heart-land of the Awori communities at Ayobo-Ipaja area. Since 1955, these communities never felt the presence of government until Bola Tinubu government established two schools for them. At Oto-Awori, isn't it ironic that just beside the College of Education at Ijanikin there is no secondary school, until this government established Oto-Awori Grammar School, enrolment has just began. At another rural location, Ije-Ododo, do you know that just behind the Trade Fair Complex you have a pristine community that has being existing without any school. We have established Ije-Ododo Grammar School, and we are enrolling this year. Now we are looking at establishing secondary schools for other areas of the state at Idimu in the hinterland of Alimoso and other rural areas of Lagos State and Eti Osa. The perception and attitude of the governor towards the provision of education is such that he believes if must be accessible and affordable to all, no matter your status of life. He appreciates the essence of education. He use to say "it is not a sin nor is it a crime to be poor, but it is mandatory to fight it. The major weapon in fighting poverty is education."
On the millennium schools, can the government deliver on the remaining 20 promised by the governor?
We are working on it. We have just being looking at the challenges of dilapidated infrastructures in public schools. This government has always been doing a periodic assessment of what we have been doing. His excellency just breezed into the executive council one day and gave marching orders to my ministry, Works and Environment to do some intervention to some public schools, which were indeed in a sorry state. That was what triggered of this renewed initiative of the rehabilitation of schools. So, our pre-occupation now is on asset redistribution. We now have 20 primary schools and 20 secondary schools being massively rehabilitated or reconstructed.

In the first phase of this exercise, we are going to spend N1.2 billion, but over the next three years the sum of N5 billion has been set aside. This is different from the routine rehabilitation that would be conducted from time to time by the ministry, maybe mending a broken fence, repairing a broken window, fixing a hanging ceiling or replacing a blown-off roof. The governor knows he must leave a legacy, bricks and mortar, things that people can see. The millennium schools are there. People can feel that this governor has taste. His is compassionate. I can mention some schools where rehabilitation is currently going on. Rehabilitation is on at Odomola Secondary School at Epe, Ikorodu High School, Awori College. Others are; Local Government Primary School, Iba, at Amuwo Odofin/Sakogboji and other places. We are rehabilitating schools cross the state. King Ado Secondary School, Isale Eko on Lagos island is being massively rehabilitated. We are all over the place. We are trying but do not forget we are operating under a lot of constraints. Constraints of the challenges of urban renewal, challenges of massive influx of people, 33 people entering Lagos every minute as supplied by the United Nations Funds for Population Activities (UNFPA). I spent 22 years of my working life teaching urban transition in Lagos at the university. So I know what I'm taking about. Due to these pressures, things are fast dilapidating and Tinubu understands the essence of managing an urban settlement such as Lagos. By 2015, Lagos would be the third largest mega city in the world after Tokyo and New York with 25 million population. Tinubu wouldn't be governor then, what he is doing is to prepare ground for whoever would be governor at that time.

On the return of managing primary schools to the state government.

You see, the Federal Government has just given us these schools to manage but you are withholding the chunk, close to 60 per cent of the entire resources of this country. Much as I do not wish to dabble into the politics of revenue allocation, I feel within me that this new policy was not well thought out if it would not be adequately funded. I think we should appeal to everybody to be fair. If you give us this responsibility, which we would be very happy to assume, let us fund it. The Federal Government should support the state by giving them their dues. Once you transfer responsibility you must give it appropriate resources support so that they can do what they are supposed to do.

How prepared is Lagos State for education for all by 2015, vis-a-vis poor enrolment of pupils in public primary schools?
Government is not about public school education, I admit there are challenges. The greatest challenge is that of managing education whether in public or private sector. We have the challenge of mushrooming private schools, of recent we dealt with a very pathetic case. As part of my schedule, which is to visit two schools every day, I was on inspection at Ikeja and I saw a very young girl of 10 years who was hawking orange to students in a school, of course that was unacceptable, my own children are in school, so I asked her the problem. The girl said her father said that he would send her to the Airforce Secondary School. The girl said she had in fact been placed by the Bola Tinubu government in Ewutuntun High School, near her house, but the father said she should not go. I asked for how to reach her dad and this girl gave me her father's mobile phone number off-hand, which reinforced my assumption that the girl must be intelligent. I called the father, invited him to my office and told him that he runs the risk of going to jail if he continues to deny his daughter access to education in line with the UBE law. The joy of it is that I was vantagely placed to put that girl in school immediately. So I directed that the girl should be registered in school, which has been done.

Our other challenge is that you have so many private schools that are unregistered. So many of these schools have unqualified and untrained teachers, some of them charge so much for teaching so little.

Is there in place any corrective measures. Are there compliance to the ministry's directives?
We set yardsticks, every time we invite them to attend workshops and seminars for training and retraining and we try as much as possible to retrain from wielding the big stick where corrections can be made because we believe education should not be strictly left to the government and public schools alone. The private sector has a role to play in the development of the sector. As at last year we directed that any school, which is not registered should not even bother to open. Since they resumed we have been closing down some of these schools. You see, the law is like a book displayed on the shelf, until you go and open it, it will just be sitting down. Once you are caught still existing in contravention of the regular laws of Lagos State and also in an injurious manner to the spirit and letters of public education, we would move against such an institution. We are not just going to be a one-man riot squad, no, we are much more organised. In any case we have good relationship with so many of the private schools and they are also organised, to be fair to some of them, well structured, well groomed teachers etc.

Motivation of public school teachers, what is the level of work at the purposed teachers' village?
The drawings are concluded, but we have not gone too far on it because there are so many options that are being considered. Some people now come forward to say, they would rather have the land and build to their taste, that would have its own challenge. Some said why don't you just have a housing estate like the Jakande prototype, but the idea is to have a similar retirement life for teachers. We have not gone far on the teachers' village due to these constraints.

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Why anti-poverty scheme failed, by official
From Njadvara Musa, Damaturu

The Guardian November 17, 2004

THE National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) of the Federal Government is unable to reduce the level of poverty in the country because the state and local councils have failed to complement the activities of NAPEP in the last five years.

This was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Alhaji Adamu Waziri.

Waziri, who is the former co-ordinator of NAPEP, briefed the press at the weekend in Potiskum on how NAPEP had failed to reduce the level of poverty in the country.

He said that despite the funding of the poverty eradication programme to the tune of N10 billion, some states and local councils failed to co-operate with the Federal Government on the implementation of the scheme.
He noted that all the complementary policies on poverty eradication from the states and councils were not forthcoming.

Waziri added that this was the reason why the primary and secondary objectives of the programme could not be achieved despite its funding.

He, therefore, exonerated the Federal Government from the failures of NAPEP on reducing the level of poverty in the country.

Citing Yobe, he explained that the establishment of a primary health centre at Bumsa, under the poverty eradication programme, was to have been complemented with the establishment of two or three facilities for electricity and water by the state and local councils.

But these facilities, he noted, were not provided thereby defeating the objectives of NAPEP in the state.

The former co-ordinator also described the critics of the programme as political mischief-makers who had deliberately frustrated the implementation of the programme at the state and local levels.

Waziri told The Guardian that despite the absence of co-operation from some states and local councils, a total of 5,000 youths were trained and assisted in various trades and professions.

The training, according to him, was in carpentry, masonry, computer, photography, vulcanising the electronics repairs.

A total of N280 million was expended on the trainees' take-off grants. Reiterating the roles of the state and local councils, he said the primary responsibilities of NAPEP were to co-ordinate and monitor all the poverty eradication programmes of states and local councils in the country.

He added that the monitoring and the co-ordination of NAPEP were to ensure that all the efforts of governments on poverty eradication were complementary to one another.

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ETF Signs MoU with Microsoft

From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 

THISDAY November 15,2004

Education Tax Fund (ETF) and Microsoft Nigeria, yesterday signed a Memora-ndum of Understanding (MoU) for partnership in learning programme.
Nigeria is the ninth country in Africa that is benefiting from the $250 million set aside by Microsoft in its five-year global programme to build the digital divide between teachers and the students.
In his remarks at the signing ceremony in Abuja yesterday, Country Manager, Microsoft Mr. Gerald Ilukwu, said the programme was not one sided but recognised the peculiarity of every environment it operated, hence several meetings were held to iron out contending areas and work out modalities before the signing of the MoU.
He said the programme intervenes with government, with the Ministry of Education and helps all players in the education sector to have all the skills needed and to be able to access the software in the field of education at special rates.
In his response, Executive Secretary of ETF, Mallam Mustapha Jaji, said the management was very excited to be part of the programme, which is out to upgrade quality of education in Nigeria.
He disclosed that the Technolab Project sponsored by ETF is a new concept designed to train teachers on knowledge, skills and strategies required to facilitate teaching and learning of science subjects in schools.

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Nigeria, China Sign Economic, Tech Agreement

From Josephine Lohor in Abuja, THISDAY November 9,2004

Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Peoples Republic of China yesterday at the State House, signed agreements on economic and technology co-operation, oil and gas and telecommunications.
The agreements which were signed when the visiting chairman of the Peoples Assembly of China and the vice president of that country, Mr. Wu Bangguo, paid a courtesy call on President Olusegun Obasanjo, would also ensure the consequent prospecting for oil in the Lake Chad Basin by the Chinese.
Obasanjo, in an address shortly before the signing ceremony of the agreements announced the approval of a new contract that would allow a Chinese firm build and service Nigeria's communication satellite (II) expected to be launched sometime next year.
The president, thanked Bangguo and the government of China for granting $2.25 million to Nigeria for Nigeria's economic and technical programmes, also disclosed that China, which provides about 40 per cent of the world's television sets, would set up a television production plant in Nigeria, adding that China would also be involved in the manufacturing of farming equipment and development of railway in Nigeria.
"We agreed that you will build refinery, pipeline and oil exploration in the Lake Chad region and you will do a lot in the downstream and upstream ares. We also agreed that since China produces 40 per cent of all television in the world, that there will be a plant in Nigeria. We will give all the inducement and encouragement we can give," he said.
The president, reiterated his support for the one-China policy, also ordered that the Taiwanese commercial office in Abuja be relocated to Lagos.

He said that there was indeed a lot of admire about China, so "wherever China is going, Nigeria would want to go."
Chairman Wu Bangguo, in his remarks, said the new Chinese government valued the relationship with Nigeria which it regards as a major partner in co-operation and a worthy friend.
Bangguo, while appreciating the one-China policy of Obasanjo, said that China was, like Nigeria, enthusiastic about extending relationship between the two countries.
Procedure of the signing ceremony made available to State House correspondents, reveals that the signing ceremony of economic and technological co-operation between both countries on the great of $225 million was done by vice Minister Wei Jianguo of China and the Minister of Co-operation and Integration in Africa, Alhaji Guba-Lawan.
The signing ceremony of oil co-operation contract of OML 64 and 66 between SINOPEC and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was done by the Managing Director of SINOPEC International and the Managing Director of the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and that of the Telecommunications Technology Transfer Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by Vice President Huawei and a staff of the Ministry of Communication.

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Federal Government Takes Vocational Education To Secondary Schools
BY JUMOBI ADEGBITE

The Guardian November 7, 2004

TO ensure skills acquisition, employment and poverty alleviation in the country, 50 per cent of secondary schools would have access to quality vocational entrepreneurial education, the Minister of Education, Professor Fabian Osuji has promised.

Osuji disclosed this at a two-day national seminar on the introduction of National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF) jointly organised by the British Council and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in Kaduna.

Osuji added that new basic technology and resource centres would be established nation-wide.

The Director for Technology and Science Education, I.S. Auta lamented the shortage of manpower with relevant skills and experience and the wide gap between institutional and industrial needs, and stated that government would involve local craftsmen in the delivery of vocational education in Nigeria..

The Executive Secretary of NBTE, Dr. Nuhu Yakubu, disclosed that the forum would provide competence-based work place assessment and training that would create opportunities for craftsmen, technicians and technologists to work as well as acquire necessary skills.

Mr Peter Brown, Director of British Council, promised that the council would support higher education sector by disseminating best practices, sharing U.K experiences and resources.

He described the seminar as very timely, and lamented that poor funding and policy gaps have consistently undermined the effectiveness of vocational education and training system in Nigeria.

"There are disparities between formal institutional training and changing needs of industry, with negative impact on employment and entrepreneurship," he noted.

At the end of the seminar, the participants called on the federal government to establish a National Vocational Qualification System.

"The Council, which should comprise representatives of NBTE, ITF, ministries of Education, Science & Technology, Environment, Petroleum Resources and such other stakeholders as the NSE, COREN, etc will further be charged with the responsibility of co-ordinating the establishment of all public and private training institutions in the country," the communiquZ said.

Participants were also of the view that the council should be saddled with the responsibility of evaluating existing skills as well as identifying future vocational and training needs and developing competency level for the National Vocational Qualification system in Nigeria.

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A Case for Nigerian Varsities Participation in S&T

• NUC commends 7 varsities for expelling 12,908
By Bukola Olatunji and Juliana Taiwo, 

THISDAY November 3, 2004

A case has been made for the active involvement of Nigerian universities in the UNESCO programme for the reform of science and technology (S&T) in country.
Participants at the first meeting of the International Advisory Board for the Reform of Science, Technology and Innovation System of Nigeria, inaugurated by the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, held in Paris last week stressed that no reform in science and technology in Nigeria can proceed without the activities and deployment of human resources resident in the university system.
 The Nigerian delegation was led by the Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun. The 55 participants were drawn from high-level scientific communities from across the world, including seven members of the Advisory Board.
UNESCO had accepted the invitation of the Federal Government to take the lead in developing a Plan of Action for Nigeria in the area of Science, Technology and Innovation. In the longer term, UNESCO intends to catalyse a multi-donor activity to conduct an international review of Nigeria's national and six regional systems of innovation, using a tested methodology which has been successfully applied in such countries as People's Republic of China, South Africa and, most recently, Chile.
President of the General Conference of UNESCO and Nigeria's Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to the organisation, Professor Michael Omolewa said the meeting historic "as one African country (Nigeria) takes a major leap in building partnership between UNESCO and world bodies with the mandate of promoting science and technology. When concluded, the programme will undoubtedly align Nigeria's plans for economic development in the right direction in a world that is knowledge driven and technologically more complex". The Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun provided a rich background documenting the progress being made by his Ministry and the implications of the reform in S&T for Nigeria's socio-economic development. He was commended for his landmark achievements in the areas of space research and biotechnology.
President of the General Conference of UNESCO and Nigeria's Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to the organisation, Professor Michael Omolewa said the meeting historic "as one African country (Nigeria) takes a major leap in building partnership between UNESCO and world bodies with the mandate of promoting science and technology. When concluded, the programme will undoubtedly align Nigeria's plans for economic development in the right direction in a world that is knowledge driven and technologically more complex". The Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun provided a rich background documenting the progress being made by his Ministry and the implications of the reform in S&T for Nigeria's socio-economic development. He was commended for his landmark achievements in the areas of space research and biotechnology.
The Board was pleased with the proposal by the National Universities Commission (NUC) delegation that the reform plan for S&T be contextualised within the framework of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and NEPAD. The view was also endorsed that the centres of excellence in universities should evolve around the priority areas of government in space research, energy research, biotechnology, oil and gas and agriculture.
 Meanwhile, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has commended seven universities in the country for expelling 12,908 students involved in the forgery of entry results. The institutions and the number of students expelled are, the University of Port Harcourt
(7,000), University of Ibadan (3,500), University of Uyo, (2000), Obafemi Awolowo University (3000), Bayero University, Kano (35), Federal University of Technology, Akure (43), and Benue State University (90).
Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola noted in the Commission's weekly Monday Memo that the Management of NUC, after an assessment of the outcomes of the just ended 2004 University System Annual Review Meetings (USARM), applauded the Senates of the affected universities, which took steps to sanitise the system by flushing out students who secured entry with fake results.
He said routine checks by university senates revealed that students falsify their Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results for the purpose of gaining entry into universities.
According to him, "De-registration or expulsion is the typical sanction. Most of these students are known to be involved in cult activities and examination malpractice and they are the trouble makers on campus."

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The state of polytechnic education

The Guardian (Editorial/Opinion) November 3, 2004

RECENTLY the executive secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr. Nuhu A. Yakubu, informed the House of Representatives committee on education that about 35 per cent of the courses offered in the 17 federal polytechnics in the country will be scrapped for lack of accreditation.

Specifically 232 of the 654 courses on offer in these institutions failed the accreditation exercise, reflecting what the executive secretary characterised as "the decline in the standard of education in most polytechnics in the country."

The decline, according to the executive secretary, is reflected in the dilapidated structures, broken down equipment, the non-availability of modern state of the art equipment, and inadequate staff.

The decision to scrap courses in federal polytechnics brings to the fore once more the crisis in the nation's educational system. It is clear that the situation in the federal polytechnics is replicated in all tertiary institutions, whether federal or state controlled. Accreditation and visitation panels have over the years drawn attention to the deplorable state of the facilities and equipment in the polytechnics, colleges of education and universities throughout the country.

Staff of these institutions have had cause to go on strike periodically to press home to the government the problem of inadequate funding. The story is the same in our primary and secondary schools. While the children of the privileged attend expensive private schools at home or overseas, majority of Nigerian children attend sub-standard primary and secondary schools. The nation's educational system is in deep crisis, created largely by neglect and inadequate funding. The Federal Government continues to ignore the UNESCO prescribed minimum funding for education in developing countries.

The decision by the NBTE to scrap 35 per cent of the courses on offer in federal polytechnics does not solve the problem. If the board discovers next year that more courses do not meet its accreditation standards, will it scrap them as well? In any case, is the decision based on a thorough appraisal of the manpower needs of the country? Is the board saying that the courses are no longer useful to the economy? Will scrapping 35 per cent of the courses solve the problem of dilapidated structures, obsolete equipment and inadequate staffing?
Polytechnics are an established and organic component of the educational system in most countries. They are designed to provide professional and work-oriented training to meet the developmental needs of society. Polytechnics produce the workforce for industry and are therefore critical to industrial development. To achieve these goals, polytechnics employ teaching and learning approaches that differ from the traditional academic model.

Their courses and methodology connect pedagogy with industry and link theory with practice. They balance specialised skills with general knowledge. Polytechnics maintain a close relationship with industry, which enables their students to acquire practical skills through industrial attachments. The industrial attachment component of polytechnic education reinforces the link between theory and praxis; it allows the graduates to be better integrated into the labour market, and provides opportunities for enterprises to maintain a closer link to the education and training system.
Unfortunately, polytechnics face a difficult situation in Nigeria, not only in terms of inadequate funding but also in their ability to provide industrial attachments for their students. Over the years industrial production has declined sharply in tandem with the collapse of the national economy. The economy no longer has the capacity to offer industrial attachment places to the number of students who need them. It also cannot offer them employment when they graduate. The nation is therefore confronted with a situation in which the polytechnics lack the facilities to offer proper training to their students; the economy cannot offer the industrial training positions which will enable the students acquire the practical skills they need for employment in the industrial sector; and industries cannot employ the graduates because they are not properly trained. It is indeed a sad commentary on the state of the nation, on the absence of a national strategy of development.

Ordinarily the Manpower Development Board, working with the National Board for Technical Education and the National Universities Commission, is expected to serve as the bridge between educational institutions and the labour market. It should make projections on the size and calibre of the workforce, sector by sector, profession by profession, which the economy would need in the immediate and long term.

It has to ensure that the educational system responds and adapts to the changing needs of the economy, of industry and of the labour market in such a way that there is no over-abundance of skills in one sector even while another sector experiences critical shortage. It is the board's responsibility to enhance the relevance of education and training for various occupational fields. It is expected to create a synergy between education and industry, between professionalism and occupations. But like most government agencies it has failed woefully in performing this critical task for the nation.

That the NBTE now finds it necessary to scrap 35 per cent of the courses on offer in federal polytechnics, not because the economy does not need professionals in those courses, but because the courses failed accreditation, demonstrates the failure or inability of government and its agencies to deal adequately with the problems confronting the nation. It is important that the government takes measures to revitalise the educational sector as part of a well designed national strategy to promote development in the country. This is the only way to emancipate our people from the suffocating tyranny of poverty and underdevelopment.

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Digital library for varsities takes off with British Council
From Oghogho Obayuwana, Abuja

The Guardian November 1, 2004

THE much talked about Digital Library Project (DLP) for Nigerian universities has finally taken off, according to Education Minister, Professor Fabian Osuji.

Osuji said at the ongoing United Kingdom (UK) education fair in Abuja that over 3,000 electronic resources meant for the project have been acquired for it.

The project is being piloted by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Noting that despite dwindling resources, the Federal Government is mindful of the need to improve learning infrastructure, the minister said: " Over 70 per cent of federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education have now embarked on a systematic improvement of their academic facilities, libraries, classrooms, lecture theatres, workshops, laboratories, using government grants and internally generated funds."
There was also good news for Nigerians who are expected to surpass the applications for admission offers facilitated by the British Council to study in the UK: they can now work in Great Britain while schooling.

Making the disclosure yesterday, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Richard Gozney, said the new deal, already sealed with the British government, was in realisation of "the need to make it easier for Nigerian students in the UK to make money while studying."
He added: "With this innovation, Nigerians are now allowed to work. In fact they can work for 42 hours a week. We have also now made it easier for students to get UK visa. Students who are able to get their letters of employment, their employers can apply for work permit on their behalf and stay for up to a year."
Stressing that 13,000 students who applied for study opportunities in the UK last year were not enough, considering the huge population in Nigeria and the zeal by Nigerians to acquire top-class education in the UK, Osuji said: "Human resources, not capital, not income, not material resources, constitute the ultimate basis for wealth of nations."
He identified three variables vital for quality education to include curriculum, environment and teachers. The latter, he emphasised, must be re-trained from time to time.

He noted: "Nigeria's virtual institute for higher pedagogy commissioned in September last year has now trained over 4,000 teachers for our universities, polytechnics and colleges of education."
In his message, the Deputy Director/Head of Education British Council in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Brown, noted that the aim of the fair, which will also hold in Lagos next week, is to encourage and strengthen educational cooperation and partnerships between Nigeria and the UK.

His words: "This is something we have been doing for a long time. We have been operating in Nigeria for over 60 years and many people in both countries have benefited from the educational ties that have been built up through scholarships, academic links, participation in programmes and workshops organised in Nigeria with a view to sharing best practices in education and exchanging expertise."
Over 41 exhibitionists, mostly universities in the UK, are taking part in the education fair.

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FG Inaugurates Committee on Distance Learning
From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja

ThisDay November 1, 2004

The Federal Government has inaugurated the National Open and Distance Education Committee (NODEC) headed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Talba.

The Minister of State for Education, Hajja Bintu Ibrahim Musa, said one of the major areas of focus of administration is the use of education to uplift the quality of life of the citizenry. She said while the Universal Basic Education takes care of the first nine-years of formal education, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is a bold attempt to bring higher education to the teeming populace of Nigerians using the National Open and Distance Learning (ODL).

The committee has four point terms of reference which are: drawing up a code of practice for both overseas and local providers of Open and Distance Learning (ODL), determining the bench marks for quality assurance and its applications, developing guidelines to check the proliferation of ODL certificates and proposing strategies to strengthen collaboration and partnerships that offers support for ODL in Nigeria.

Others on the Committee are Director of Higher Education, Director Educational Support Services, Chairman National Open and Distance Education of Nigeria (NODEN), Executive Secretary National Universities Commission (NUC), Executive Secretary National Board for Technical Education, Executive Secretary National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Executive Secretary Education Tax Fund (ETF), Director National Teachers Institute (NTI) and Vice Chancellor National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

Others are one representative of ODL providers, one representative of Rectors, Federal Polytechnic, one representative of Provosts, Federal Colleges of Education, one representative of Federal Ministry of Information, one representative of Computer Association of Nigeria (COAN), two representatives of State Ministry of Education (on rotational basis and one representative of the private sector.