The executive secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Mr Sonny Echono, on Tuesday, in Lagos, declared that Nigeria is grossly deficient in the graduates with requisite digital skills that are essential for most skilled jobs in the 21st Century economy.

He said the 21st Century economy required that graduates possess relevant digital skills to thrive and contribute significantly through their respective disciplines be it industries, education, health, engineering, infrastructure or any other sector.

He shared this thought and perspective as a convocation lecturer at the 26th Convocation ceremonies of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, speaking on Higher Education in the Digital Age.”

According to him, to survive and succeed in today’s innovation-driven economy, and in a world where technology is increasingly dominating all aspects of life and work, our graduates would need skills required to navigate through and thrive.

Echono observed that even though the world is bedeviled by massive unemployment, the fact remains that most companies globally are complaining about their inability to fill open vacancies due to shortages of people with relevant skills to man the openings.

He said Nigeria is not exempted from this challenge, hence the need to produce graduates and other skilled workers who would be fit- for-purpose.

According to him, at TETFund, “we are fully aware that the future of education in Nigeria is inseparably hinged on the development of capacity in digital literacy and skills to address the acute dearth of workers with in-demand digital literacy and emerging skills as well as the mismatch between the skills which graduates possess and employers need in this 21st century.

“So, we have taken it upon ourselves as an agency to come to the rescue so that our tertiary schools would operate in accordance with the global best practices,” he added.

The TETFUND boss, while noting that the increase in digital learning in Nigeria has led to a significant upsurge in access to tertiary education and an improved quality, said the development has also led to an increase in productivity and decrease in the cost of operations.

Sharing some of the interventions of TETFUND on ICT in public tertiary schools in the country, Echono mentioned that the interventions are in various ways ranging from training, capital development, research to infrastructural provisions.

According to him, TETFUND has spent up to N27.76 billion in the last seven years as ICT intervention support to public tertiary schools in the country and about N3.43 billion (representing 12.5 per cent) of the amount was expended on training programmes alone.

He said the universities got the largest allocation of the total amount each year while the polytechnics followed and then the colleges of education given the least.

According to him, allocation to universities in the last seven years for ICT development is N15.585 billion while that of polytechnics and colleges of education stands at N6.37 billion and 5.80 billion respectively.

He said the efforts are yielding tremendous results.

In his remark earlier, the executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Abubakar Rasheed, who chaired the lecture, acknowledged LASU’s disposition to quality training and research works.

He said the university is not only one of the best and most reputable universities in the country, it is actually doing well in its tripartite mandate of teaching, research and community engagements.

According to him, out of 71 undergraduate programmes being run by the university, 69 of them have full NUC accreditation and the university also operates an ICT friendly environment.

He commended the leadership of the university for their efforts and congratulated the new graduates, charging both sides not to relent on their oars.

On her part, the Vice-Chancellor of LASU and Professor of Physiology, Mrs. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, also acknowledged the significant revolution that digitalisation has brought into teaching and learning in tertiary schools in Nigeria.

She said the outbreak of Covid-19 and resultant global lockdown exposed all countries and institutions to a reality that activities on digital space are indispensable if they remain relevant in the post Covid-19 era.

According to her, LASU now carries out most of its activities both on site and virtual, promising that the university would continue to invest in digital learning and teaching, research and other activities.

She thanked both the convocation lecturer and the chairman of the event for honouring the school invitation to perform their respective roles in the ongoing convocation ceremonies, saying their thoughts and perspectives shared with the audience would remain useful for them. NAN