The Federal Ministry of Education and other stakeholders have called for more commitment to the funding of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to advance technological studies in schools.
They made the call in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2021 EdTech Summit organised by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with AfriTEX, an NGO.
Mr. Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education said that most of the security challenges experienced in the country would be traced to lack of quality education on the part of the youths.
Echono, represented by the Director of ICT in the ministry, Mr Isah Abubakar said adequate funding was necessary to galvanise the learning of ICT.
“We need to make commitment to fund ICT infrastructure because without infrastructure we cannot actually do much, it is a function of funding.
“ Government needs to make state and at different levels have to make commitment to fund ICT infrastructure.
“We don’t have a choice, we must educate our youths so we must look for that funding. Most of the issues we are having today can be traced to education.
“ In other words, the necessary fund have to be sourced for and we must have to make the commitment as a people to increase funding in our education.
Also speaking, Mr Oyesola Oworu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), AfriTEX said the summit was organised to find creative technology and solutions with the propensity to transform the education system.
Oworu said this would be done through leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to positively impact existing educational ecosystems.
“Digital education in Nigeria is in a very low level and we are at the stage where it needs attention for stakeholders to come together to build an ecosystem.
“ We need the collaboration between governments and the educators and also the technology players to be able to develop to the level like the other countries,” he said.
In the same vein, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Inuwa Abdullahi said there was need to catch up with the world in the area of ICT by providing ICT tools required for schools.
Abdullahi, represented by Dr Taofeek Yekini, in the agency said that NITDA would continue to do its best to facilitate the process of ICT so as to adapt to changes to advance learning.
“ Information technology has been imposed on the contemporary society. This was made possible by the occasion of the lockdown occasdioned by the COVID-19 which made people to opt for ICT as a means of interaction.
“ This particular event has accelerated the adoption of ICT for every category of persons throughout the world so it has created opportunities to deploy this platform to facilitate education processes .
“Apart from using this ICT tools to accomplish educational goal, the process will prepare the learners for the future because when they go through the process they will be prepared for the future.”
Also, Dr Rudra Sahoo, Education Manager, UNICEF Nigeria Country Office commended Nigeria on efforts made in advancing the technological education of students.
Sahoo, however said that UNICEF would continue to work with partners to ensure continuous access to learning through digital learning platform.
