TETFund Boss Harps on Investment in Youth for Digital LiteracyTETFundTETFund Boss Harps on Investment in Youth for Digital Literacy

Funmi Ogundare

The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, yesterday, called for massive investment on Nigerian graduates so that they would be relevant, take advantage of opportunities and proffer solutions to societal problems, using digital literacy as a disruptive foundation.

Echono, who made this call while delivering the Lagos State University (LASU) 26th convocation lecture titled, ‘Higher Education in the Digital Age,’ explained that to achieve this feat, the youth must not only be digital natives, but also global citizens who would be honed in the skills for critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and technology adoption, adaptability and cross-cultural awareness.

According to him, “the dreams of our founding fathers to build a united and prosperous country can only be realised if we take the necessary steps and make the right investments in the youth of our country.

“Education allows translating that lofty idea into reality. Higher education anchored on ubiquitous access, quality curriculum and nimble delivery systems can be a catalyst for sustainable national development.”

He stressed the need for educators to embrace disruption that the digital change brings, adding that Nigeria must join a growing global movement for educational transformation focusing on a transformation agenda rather than a reform strategy.

“Our education system must redefine both content and pedagogy, and shift from transmission to transformation, directed at stimulating innovation, promoting creativity, and encouraging critical thinking as weapons for relevance in the new world of daily life and work.

“It is therefore imperative, as gatekeepers and avant-garde of tertiary education, to think differently about educational leadership, and to design a new pathway, using digital literacy as a disruptive foundation.

“We must also engender new perspectives and practices by employing emerging models of curriculum delivery.  At no time in our history has there been a louder call for our education to be more relevant and transformative,” the executive secretary stated.

Echono said the Fund plans to use its various digital literacy initiatives to prepare a digitally literate and highly skilled workforce to substantially drive Nigeria’s realisation of the Sustainable Development Goal ( SDG4) and to increase the number of graduates of Nigerian tertiary institutions who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship; support the realisation of Nigeria’s digital economy vision for all Nigerian citizens to have digital skills equal to or exceeding the demands of their daily transactions and occupations.

Other plans, according to him, includes propelling Nigeria to become a nation that creates, uses and supplies advanced digital technologies and content to improve productivity across all sectors of the economy and  ensure that the tertiary education sector contributes substantially to the success of the national plan and national digital literacy framework, as well as  drawing up a workable programme for digital literacy and emerging skills training to be extended to all students in tertiary education institutions to meet the specifications of the National Digital Literacy Framework and National Development Plan for the country.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the occasion and Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Rasheed Adamu, disclosed that the commission recently worked with about 1000 university lecturers to re-engineer its curriculum so that it can be fit for purpose considering the digital revolution.