President warns against disruptions in higher institutions

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday
decried the challenges facing the
Education sector, especially incessant
strikes in tertiary institutions.
The President described the disruptions
in Nigeria's educational institutions as
"unnecessary."
He urged stakeholders to be conscious of
the impact of such breaks on the children,
institutions and the nation.
Jonathan spoke in Abuja at the opening of
the second National Education
Innovations Exhibition, organised by the
Federal Ministry of Education.
Jonathan said there was need for a
dialogue when there was conflict.
As a result of competing challenges, the
President said it was not always possible
to have enough resources to support
education.
Jonathan, who was represented by the
Supervising Minister for Education,
Nyesom Wike, advised tertiary institutions
to seek external funding for the sector.
He said: "We must demonstrate a sense
of patriotism in dealing with situations
that involve the future of our children and
country. We need to be conscious of the
impact on our children, institutions and
the country, of unnecessary disruptions in
our educational institutions. We need to
emphasise dialogue where there is a
conflict or when any sort of
misunderstanding arises. This is the
civilised approach of doing things.
"We have much investment in higher
education, but the challenge is getting
value for the nation. This value is in
relation to quality education and research
output. Our institutions must provide the
leadership in providing the knowledge to
move the country forward.
"We are stakeholders in the Education
sector. For this reason, we must promote
quality education delivery and understand
that as a result of competing challenges, it
is not always possible to have enough
resources to support the sector
(Education).
"It is, therefore, for this reason that our
institutions, especially at the tertiary
level, should be considering every avenue
of attracting external support through
research, grants as well as through the
provision of services."
Jonathan said it was because of the
government's determination to encourage
research and innovation, that 11 higher
institutions had been given between $4
million to $5.5 million in diverse areas.
These include food security, vaccines and
drugs development, technical and
vocational education, infectious diseases,
renewable energy, software engineering,
mineral and metallurgical engineering,
environmental protection and multimedia
as well as cinematography.
The President said the high impact fund
were in five phases and "provided over
N109 billion to support tertiary
institutions in enhancing their capacity as
centres of excellence."
He added: "The African Centres of
Excellence, for which we have provide a
seed grant of $15 million, is another
initiative to promote research and
innovation in our society.
"The comprehensive rehabilitation of the
laboratories of our polytechnics is a major
impetus to encouraging our leading
technical and vocational institutions to get
into the business of innovation. Fifteen
billion naira was expended on ensuring
that the 51 federal and state polytechnics
have laboratories that meet modern
technical and vocational education
standard."
President Jonathan also urged educational
institutions in the country to link their
output to the needs of national
development to fast-track growth.
The President urged higher institutions to
collaborate with the private sector to
ensure that their works reached the wider
society.
Jonathan said: "I congratulate our
educational institutions for what they are
showcasing. I, however, state that we still
have challenges ahead in relation to
linking the output of our institutions to
national development.
"It is in this regard that our institutions
must look critically at relating their work
to the needs of society. Our higher
institutions must work to develop
collaborative arrangements with the
private sector to enhance getting their
work into the wider society. One of the
advantages of events as this is that it will
link the private sector to works of our
institutions."
Wike, whose speech was read by the
Acting Permanent Secretary, Mrs Hindatu
Abdulahi, said Nigeria could not occupy an
enviable space among nations without
having upwardly mobile and globally
competitive citizens with knowledge, skill,
innovation and added value.