‘Massive Deployment of ICT in Learning, Panacea to Nigeria’s Economic Woes’

Vice-Chancellor, Convenant University, Prof. Charles Ayo.

Except the Federal Government amends the National Development Agenda and cause it to take cognizance of the role of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), in delivering education that would transform raw materials to desired products, the chances of overcoming the present economic challenges remain very slim.

 

This is as the imperatives of deploying ICT in all sectors of the nation’s economy is dire, so as to solve the plethora of socio-economic and political problems negating national progress.

 

Immediate past vice chancellor of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Prof. Charles Ayo, while delivering a paper titled, “Deconstructing the National Development Agenda: The Role of Information and Communications Technologies” said, “For 56 years after independence, this country has been in search of peace, unity and viable economic and infrastructural development. To some opinion leaders, these are pointers towards a failed state. Despite the fact that several developmental plans have been made with several visionary goals, none of these have yielded the required results, based on the available indices about the socio-political and economic challenges that have always bedeviled our nation.

“We are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that nations are built by skills, and skills are acquired through quality education. Looking at our developmental issues as a nation, it is crystal clear that what makes a nation is not abundance of the natural resources buried under the earth, but the abundance of intellectual capital, which is grossly lacking.”

 

He continued, “Therefore there is need for massive deployment of ICTs in education delivery to solve the problem of access, particularly through the adoption of Open and Distance Learning (ODL), and Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Let us deconstruct our national development agenda by refocusing on human capital development.  California, one of the states in the United States is a perfect example.

 

“Its economy is larger than that of France or Brazil. It is better than Texas, the oil rich state of the US. California’s economy is built around the ivory tower- Stanford University that play host to the Silicon Valley. The valley houses the best IT firms in the world, such as Apple, HP Google, Facebook, Cisco, eBay, Oracle, Netfix, among others. These are multi-billion dollar companies. The valley can be considered the epicenter of ICT innovations in the world,” Ayo explained.

 

He added that the state is also the home of Hollywood, a multi-billion-movie industry that contributes billions of dollars to the GDP of the state. “This is another example of an investment in human capital development,” he said.

Noting that the country does not need rocket science to be back on track, he said a paradigm shift in education and technology, as well as massive investment in human resources will solve the challenges.

 

He, however, warned that further negligence in these sectors would further fuel underdevelopment, emergence of separatist groups and other social vices that are counterproductive.

The former vice chancellor assured that the deployment of ICTs in governance, education, business and health, would yield great developmental dividends to the country.

 

Chancellor of the institution, Dr. David Oyedepo, former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, Vice Chancellor of Bells University of Technology, Prof. Jeremiah Oladele Ojediran, and his counterpart at Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, Prof. Isaac Ajayi, who were present at the lecture, in their respective remarks, urged government to utilise the numerous developmental benefits inherent in education and technology.