The National Universities Commission (NUC) has revealed plans to make Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training mandatory for all Students in Nigerian Universities.
This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr. Abubakar Rasheed. According to him, the commission has laid out plans to ensure students in Nigerian universities pass through ICT training before their graduation.
In a chat between the directors of ICT of Nigerian universities and the committee of NUC for ICT, the Executive Secretary said, “Part of what we are trying to do now is to establish a framework where all Nigerian university graduates or students would pass through an ICT training phase.
“If the university system computerizes its environment sufficiently, most of the problems such as the issue of getting transcript will reduce because there will be a portfolio of all the students’ data.
It is only an analog method that sees issues with transcript among others,” said Rasheed who was represented by the chairman of the committee, Johnson Asinugo.
The Director of Research, Innovation and Information Technology at the commission, Mr. Babatunde Raymond-Yusuf, also emphasized the importance of ICT as a catalyst for development in all facets of life including education and career choices thus the need to build ICT training into the university education system.
According to Raymond-Yusuf, the commission plans to capitalize on ICT to drive the entire spectrum of teaching, learning, and research in Nigerian universities. The aim is to produce graduates who can drive a new digital economy in Nigeria.
“As soon as we finish this stage of data gathering, the specific step will be taken to attract funding to the system. By the time we finish this process, it should be a thing of the past for any Nigerian university to be unable to use ICT to resolve these issues,” said Raymond-Yusuf.
