NEWS
Directs Enugu Tertiary Institutions to Deliver Experiential Learning
From Sylvia Udegbunam, Enugu
Enugu State governor, Dr. Peter Mbah has called for a paradigm shift in Nigeria’s current education model, saying it cannot deliver the much-needed speedy development and economic transformation.
Mbah therefore, advocated for a shift from rote or memorisation to experiential learning, which he described as the missing link between education, industrialisation and GDP growth.
He stated this on Tuesday while delivering the 1st Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Distinguished Personalities Lecture Series entitled “Experiential Learning: Building the Wealth of the Nation.
”“Why do Nigerian universities seldom feature on the global ranking list of world’s best universities? Why have they seemed perennially unable to become the ideas factory which universities ought to be? Why are our universities not producing inventive graduates?
“The answers to these questions lie in many inconvenient truths, amongst which is the fact that the learning in our schools, from basic to tertiary, has for years not imbued our young people with productive skills and competencies.
This is the root cause of our underdevelopment,” he said.He noted that knowledge has always been the prime lever for progress throughout human history, the reason he said nations like the US, China, Germany, and Netherlands, which invest the most in building a qualitative and experiential education ecosystem are the world’s leading economies – United States of America.
Mbah, who is currently building 260 Smart Green Schools to power experiential learning in the 260 wards of Enugu State, stressed that by embedding the model from the basic to tertiary levels of education, Enugu was creating a seamless pipeline where students progress from foundational learning to practical innovation.
He also directed all state-owned tertiary institutions to deliver experiential learning going forward.
“So, we hereby announce as a policy that all state-owned tertiary institutions in Enugu State must henceforth deliver Experiential Learning to our children. We want to see this change reflected in planning, budget, curriculum reform, assessment and promotions, as well as research.
“Experiential learning ensures that education is deeply connected to the challenges and opportunities of the real world.
“It fosters critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. It empowers students to see themselves not as passive learners, but as active problem-solvers,” he said.
Justifying his administration’s allocation of 33 per cent of the state’s budget to the education sector, Mbah regretted that whereas governments could be sacked in developed nations for a slight drop in standard in either of the sectors, most leaders spend more on physical infrastructure like roads, which yield immediate results and acclaim.
“Instructively, the most impactful policies are not necessarily those that create the biggest buzz. But they offer the clearest indices of human development.
“Nothing transforms lives and paves a path to a promising future like quality education. It is the reason why one-third of Enugu State’s total annual budget went into funding education.
“This translates to roughly twice UNESCO’s recommended benchmark of 15 per cent – 20 per cent. What this means is that for every N100 Naira spent, N33 goes to the education budget.
“This funding has enabled us to implement both infrastructural and pedagogical overhaul of our education system.
“Our will has enabled us to begin a transition from a system where pupils seemed, to all intents and purposes, to be merely going through the motions of learning, to an ecosystem of experiential learning.
“Through our Smart Green Schools, we have introduced the ‘cut-off point’, whereby we target children from age three, and begin to inculcate in them social habits, health habits, fine motor skills, and problem-solving competencies, introducing them to an experiential education system that helps them to navigate our rapidly evolving technological knowledge-driven world.
“After three years of Early Childhood Education, having completed Nursery 1-3, our children complete Basic 1-9. During their twelve-year academic study in the Enugu Smart Green Schools, our children learn with interactive digital whiteboards, tablets, and computers; they are immersed in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual/Augmented Reality, and Internet of Things, among others.
“Upon graduating from the Smart Green Schools, about one-quarter of our children will proceed to Technical and Vocational Schools focusing on key competencies like Industrial and Information Technology, Building and Fabrication Engineering, as well as Industrial Agriculture, with the objective to become respected and skilled professionals, highly valued for their expertise.”
He said his administration was already constructing eight Science, Technical, and Vocational (STV) schools across Enugu State, starting from the Government Technical College (GTC), Enugu.
Meanwhile, the Vice Chancellor of ESUT, Prof. Alloysius-Michael Okolie; Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of ESUT Governing Council, Sir Chinyeaka Oha and chairman of the public lecture, Prof. Obiora Ike, commended Mbah for his huge investments in the education sector and the transformational leadership cutting across all sectors.
Also, the governor, during the visit, commissioned the Dr. Peter Mbah Multipurpose Auditorium, named after him by ESUT leadership, in appreciation of his immense impacts and contributions to the repositioning of the institution in a short time.
NEWS
Yuletide: Bode George Urges Tinubu to Reduce Petrol Price
Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.
George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.
The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.
According to the elder statesman,Nigerians are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.
He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.
The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are special months , said that such gesture could start from the middle of December and run through January.
“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.
“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.
“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.
“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.
“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.
“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.
“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.
Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .
He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness in order to create a better future for Nigerians
Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.
According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates to emerge.
Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.
“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is heard in elections.
“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.
Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.
“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.
George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
George disagreed with political watchers saying no vacancy in presidency in 2027.
On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.
He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.
“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves up. ” he said.
Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.
Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)
NEWS
Tinubu Set for Groundbreaking of Renewed Hope City in Lagos
President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.
Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos
Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.
“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.
Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.
Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.
Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)
NEWS
Gov. Alia Presents N550.1bn as 2025 Budget Estimate to Benue Assembly
Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.
7 billion is for capital expenditure.The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.
5 per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.
Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.
4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.
“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.
“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.
“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.
The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.
He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.
“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.
“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.
Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.
He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)