The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) have commenced collaborations to include digital literacy programmes in Nigerian universities’ curricula.
The Management of NITDA and NUC met at the NUC headquarters in Abuja Tuesday evening to work out strategies and modalities for the inclusion of digital literacy programmes in all 275 universities across the country.
The NITDA management was led by its Director General, Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi while the NUC Management was led by its Executive Secretary, Prof Chris Maiyaki.
According to the NUC Executive Secretary, the collaborations became necessary considering the rapidly changing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) space as well as the dynamics of the digital economy ecosystem.
Maiyaki said for Nigerian university systems and their products to remain relevant and competitive globally, the university curriculum has to be scaled up to meet international standards and best practices, noting that Nigeria’s 149 private universities, 63 Federal Universities, and 63 state-owned universities cannot be left behind.
He said Nigeria with over 200 million population is yet under-subscribed with 275 universities compared to the United States of America with about 5000 universities, Brazil with over 1,000, and Indonesia with over 2,000.
Maiyaki said there is a huge gap in the number of universities needed in Nigeria to accommodate over 1.2 million vibrant students who seek admission into universities every year, stressing that the gaps in the education sector in terms of infrastructures, human capital resources, and funding needed to be addressed for the country to take its rightful position globally.
Maiyaki said the NUC took dynamic steps to address the gaps by ensuring that some courses such as Mass Communications, Computer Science, and Agriculture were unbundled in the university systems, stressing that this was necessary given the far-reaching latitudes/opportunities offered by the disciplines.
“The NUC is the flagship regulatory body for Nigerian universities and we are determined to ensure strict compliance with the minimum standards for curriculum planning and development. Though 30 percent of the curriculum is developed by the Universities…but we all cannot work in isolation.
“Like Yale University, MIT, and others, Nigerian universities should be recognized as top-notch for cutting-edge technology, Innovations, and inventions especially in areas of cyber security, software engineering, soft skills, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship as soon as possible “, Maiyaki asserted.
The Director General of NITDA, Malam Kashifu Abdullahi said in 2001 when NITDA was created there were about 500,000 Nigerians who had access to computers, stressing that today over 132 million Nigerians have access to computers, the Internet, and digital platforms to undertake their daily businesses.
Abdullahi said the increase in usage of computers and digital platforms was made possible by the policy of the Federal Government in 2019, stressing that since the digital economy and innovation became integral parts of government policy, the nation’s policy thrust on the digital economy has been recalibrated.
Abdullahi said: “We are here to seek partnership and collaboration with the NUC to ensure that university curricula are recalibrated to include digital literacy, digital innovation, development of soft skills, and entrepreneurship amongst others.
“We have concluded arrangements for 15 million Nigerian pupils and students to be trained in digital literacy and skills in our primary and secondary schools. A pilot study has been carried out at Nasarawa State University on how this can be implemented and included in the University curriculum. The Programme was being implemented by CISCO in collaboration with NITDA.
“We believe that with your support, this can be replicated and embedded in the curriculum of our universities. This would promote digital inclusion, and financial inclusion and deepen economic inclusion for all Nigerians irrespective of their locations across Nigeria.
“The 8 Strategy pillars developed for Nigeria’s transformation in Digital Economy and Literacy would bring about job and wealth creation, reducing poverty and ensure that Nigeria benefits from the 85 million jobs that would be available in the digital skills sector all over the world,” Malam Abdullahi stated.
