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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training will soon be made compulsory for all Nigerian university students, according to a new policy being conceived by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr. Abubakar Rasheed, recently revealed in Abuja that the commission was already working on a framework that would make it mandatory for students to pass through the training before they can graduate.
“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,” said Rasheed during an interactive session between the directors of ICT of Nigerian universities and the committee of NUC for ICT development.
“If the university system computerises 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 analogue method that sees issues with transcript among others,” said Rasheed who was represented at the event by the chairman of the committee, Johnson Asinugo.
The NUC’s Director of Research, Innovation and Information Technology, Mr. Babatunde Raymond-Yusuf, described ICT as the major driver of all activities across all facets of life including g education and career choices thus the need to build ICT training into the university education system.
According to him, the commission plans to leverage ICT to enhance the entire spectrum of teaching, learning and research in Nigerian universities. The objective being to produce graduates who can drive a new digital economy in Nigeria.
“As soon as we finish this stage of data gathering, 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 .
