Nigeria’s information and technology agency, NITDA, in collaboration with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), are seeking to provide emerging technologies in tertiary institutions, to improve the quality of education in Nigeria.
Speaking at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), on Friday, the Director General NITDA, Isa Pantami, said the technologies are important and strategic.
“We are talking about emerging technologies and digitalisation, no longer computers because this is what education requires,” he said.
He appealed to TETFUND to pay more attention to information technology in their intervention across institutions.
The technology boss said this will improve the quality of education given to Nigerian students.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the IT agency had outlined five new regulatory instruments for the improvement of the Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) in Nigeria.
The regulatory instruments will promote indigenous innovations.
They hope to address various challenges facing Nigeria towards effective ICT adoption.
The NITDA boss said with the presence of digitalisation, there will be less need for physical classrooms in various institutions in Nigeria.
On his part, the Executive Secretary TETFUND, Suleiman Bohoro, said the issue of emerging technologies is one the most important activities of digital inclusion.
Mr Bohoro said there are a number of emerging solutions that are creative and makes learning easier.
“Without the role of IT, there will not be knowledge of the economy,” he said. “This project will go a long way in checking plagiarism in various institutions.”
Below are the areas of cooperation between the Technology and Education agencies
1.IT infrastructure and development in tertiary institutions- This will help in deployment of information in the institutions.
2. Human capacity development in tertiary institutions- This is to support training and development of human capacity for Nigeria especially in tertiary institutions in identified areas of critical information technology skills and emerging technologies.
3. Development of emerging technologies in tertiary institutions.
4. Digitalisation of services in tertiary institutions: This is towards the improvement of the learning and teaching environment.
5.Project management in tertiary institutions: This is the development of ICT platforms and capacity in the area of management of project in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
6. IT academy deployment in tertiary institutions: This is the provision of local sources for the development of a specialized information technology academy to sustain the development.
7. ICT policy development in tertiary institutions: This is to support the development of standard ICT policy and framework.
8. Emerging technologies and deepening of research and development in tertiary institutions.
