Expert advocates development of science education

Expert advocates development of science education
Ben Adam Shemang, Abuja.

Professor Michael Adikwu, the National Project Coordinator Science and Technology Post Basic Project.

It’s been suggested that for Nigeria to realize its goal of becoming one of the top 20 economies of the world by 2020, Science and Technology education must play key roles.

This is the view of Professor Michael Adikwu, the National Project Coordinator Science and Technology Post Basic Project.

He told Voice of Nigeria that governments at the Local, State and Federal levels must not play lip service to science and technology, adding that the project he coordinates starts from Senior Secondary School and encompasses colleges of education, Polytechnics and Universities.

China example

Professor Adikwu observed that:“In a year, China produces five thousand engineers’…that is why china has become a country to be reckoned with”.

He called for better teacher quality and curricula content relevant to the Nigerian situation.

Creation of wealth

The University Lecturer remarked that “any country that does not lay emphasis on Technical education is undoing itself”.

He said Germany recorded a noticeable growth after the world war because its economic drive was centred on using hangs to create wealth, which South Korea had copied.

Professor Adikwu lamented that there is serious emphasis on white collar jobs as opposed to vocational jobs “and that is why many PA Mechanical engineers cannot repair their own cars”.

Under the Science and Technology Education Post Basic Project, the Federal government has committed the sum of 180 million dollars for the success of the programme.

In Nigeria, it is very usual for over 20,000 students on the average, to apply for 5,000 slots for admission into each of the Universities in the country.

Little attention is paid to Technical education and where it exists, there is no equipment for teaching or the equipment could be there but no qualified manpower to mount them.

Iheanacho