TCA, LAUTECH, STEM and Nigeria’s Technology-Education

I spoke at the MKO Lecture theatre, LAUTECH on the 6th of March 2018. It was on the invitation of The Campus Ambassadors, a leadership organization focused on raising leaders on campus.

From the reception given to me by the President, Mr Ola who also goes by the title Ambassador Thought to the procession-like escort by Ambassadors Moridiya, Zainab, the Speaker of one of the departments in the college of medicine and a few others, I was nothing but excited.

What excited me was not just their reception, but the fact that most of the ambassadors reminded me of myself just a few years ago with aspirations for my country. They were not just aspiring for a better country, they were doing something about it.

My Twitter thread, which I hear has now gone viral in the school even put up a lesson for political parties in the way that we recruit leaders in our democracy. For you to become a member of The Campus Ambassadors, you have to have proven beyond reasonable doubt that you had something to give to society. Moridiya especially, with the help of Mariam had taken me through the herculean process a few minutes before the event started.

If political parties recruited candidates the way TCA recruits its members, Nigeria will be a better place today. I had also added that it was a beautiful experience. I maintain that position.

My opening tweet in the thread however mentioned the disposition of the students to major technology trends and the negative answers they gave to the questions I had asked. I was speaking at a university of technology. If I was going to engage on technology which also happens to be my career base, I wanted to know how to engage.

I have gotten criticisms on this opening line from most LAUTECH students and even friends who are alumni of the school. I have also sampled opinions of people and called the President, Ambassador Thought who was gracious as usual to be honest with me about how he felt and how TCA executives and members felt. I am now aware that even members of the trustees of the organization had reached out to him on my comment.

It is my responsibility to articulate my thoughts in order to communicate my points and not be misinterpreted as much as possible. I however have little or no control over how this is perceived or interpreted. For all misinterpretations and misunderstandings, I apologize. I will now proceed to expatiate my points about the education system in Nigeria. So that LAUTECH folks will not come at me, I will leave LAUTECH as an institution out of this and make my examples from others, including my own Alma Mata, OAU.

If you were reading for the apology, you can stop here. Only the brutal truth about our warped education-technology system with a focus on technology follows from here.

I have an invitation on the 14th of March ( a few days time) for an engagement between academic experts and industry experts in technology organized by OAK-Park in partnership with Obafemi Awolowo University. This engagement will focus on aligning what is been taught in class with what is happening in technology circles in the ‘real’ world ( we have found it comfortable to use this term ‘real world’ because somehow, our universities are fake worlds). In other developed climes, the universities are the core from which whatever happens outside in terms of technology is determined.

I am happy that this engagement is happening and I will be attending despite my now ‘crazy’ schedule. Professor Okunrounmu’s efforts should be replicated in every institution in Nigeria that has technology attached to it.

But in spite of all of these, it is not yet Uhuru. It is not yet even U. There is an institute of technology research and development in Atakumosa East LGA on the way to Ifewara that has next to no activity happening there. On the way to speak at FUTA last year, I once saw a department for ICT Entrepreneurship that was filled with bushes up to the gate and next to no activity in there. NITDA claims to have more than 700 ICT centres nationwide. From what I have heard, most are akin to cybercafés that have lost their glory with nothing close to innovation happening within that space. There is a National Technology Incubation Centre that has about 38 incubation centers for technology innovation across the country — they make soaps, creams and grinding machines there!

I am not the first person that will notice a dearth of core technology advancement in our institutions and this reflects on our students who will become graduates labelled with technology degrees and will have little capacities to produce something of value in the technology space. In the 21st century, they will have to compete with 14 and 15 year old students who are exposed to technology from day one.

This does not mean in any way that there are no unicorns. My very good friend who now studies in Sussex England and has done a lot for himself and Nigeria internationally is an example. He did me the favour of mentioning a few others like him. The question however is how many diamonds can you find in the rough? How many stones and grains of sand and clay can you find in the rough?

STEM Education is now, more than any time in the history of the human race, the most valuable education any student can have. It is what the modern economy and the 21st century prosperity is going to be hinged on. While countries like the United States are finding it difficult to get students to graduate in STEM courses and not actually cross to non-STEM courses, Nigeria is finding it difficult to get our STEM graduates actually do STEM!

Let me conclude with an ‘ode’ to Donald Trump. Recently, the current United States President did what he knows how to do best, name-calling anything. He called most of African countries, shithole countries. And the debate raged over and over about why he could do that! What nonsense! How dare he call us that?

The conversation we left out however was

(1) What exactly are we?

(2) Why are we waiting for outsiders to call us by what we appear to be instead of reinforcing what we are with facts and evidence?

To conclude, I am a Yoruba man and where I come from, it is considered irresponsibility or even something grave for you to see your housemate leave the house with faeces on his buttocks and not tell him. It’s usually said that if those at home don’t tell you, those outside will.

So back to LAUTECH. This is another question I asked in my speech. I hope this one doesn’t cause as much havoc as the other one.

Are you a proud Nigerian?

Audience — Yes!

Are you proud of what Nigeria looks like today?

Audience — Majority said NO!

I am a proud Nigerian and will in fact defend our universities on the international scene with every piece of information I would have gathered if I ever have cause to.

Am I proud of the way Nigeria is, or the way our institutions are? NO! And I have no apologies for this.

Maybe I ask too many questions. On the 15th of March, I will be speaking at Babcock University. I will take a few lessons from my LAUTECH experience. What I don’t plan to stop yet though is challenging the status quo.

Thank You, TCA! I had a good time. I hope you did too.