Nigerians have been assured by the Federal Government that the right environment for an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) driven society, to make learning and teaching easy will be provided.
Mr David Adejo, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, made this commitment in Abuja at the 2022 EdTech Summit and Award with the theme “Industrial Revolution, the Future of Education’.
The permanent Secretary, who was represented by Mr Gbenga Oderemi, the Deputy Director of ICT in the ministry, said that the federal government was using ICT to improve the quality and efficiency of education at all levels.
According to Oderemi, technology is the driver of competitiveness in our world today, it has redefined productivity and changed the dynamics of production and services.
ICT has expanded social networking beyond borders and affected virtually every sector of the world economy.
We need to equip our youths with relevant IT skills and empower them for self-reliance and economic growth. We must use ICT to improve the life of our citizens and for social transformation.
We are also providing greater access for the learners in basic and senior secondary. Some of our initiatives include; development of a National ICT in Education policy; training of teachers on basic ICT skills; and the provision of an e-learning portal for students across the country, he said.
The Chief Executive Officer of AFRITEX, Oyesola Oworu while speaking said the summit was geared towards the emergence and development of the ecosystem, which he said was lagging for the future of education.
According to Oworu, about 20 million children are out of school roaming the streets of Nigeria hence the need for quick response to fix it through technology.
The world is not waiting for Nigeria even though Nigeria is sleeping for the next one hundred years, the world is moving. They have gone and we are only trying to catch up with them.
We have to meet the world where it is right now and we need to have this ecosystem developed so that everyone can come together.
We are also planning to launch what we call Nigeria Educational Technology Alliance because a summit once in a year like this is not sufficient for us to be able to develop the ecosystem, he said.
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