By Kwin Israel, The Sight News
Stakeholders in the education sector have harped on the need for Nigerians to portray the sector in a positive way in order to attract more investment.
Speaking during a one-day retreat on the State of Education in Nigeria organised by the Education Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (ECAN) on Tuesday, the Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, urged Nigerians to stop portraying the education sector in bad light in the global scene.
Prof. Ajiboye who admitted the challenges faced in the education sector, however, reiterated that the quality of graduates produced could compete favourably all over the world.
“Nigeria’s education is among the best all over the world as our graduates are sought-after globally.
“Nigeria’s education is among one of the best in the world as at today, if not, why are Nigerian professionals going outside the country?
“You see thousands of Nigerians everywhere you go; Nigerian graduates are well sought-after. Even as of today, if you look at the quality of our graduates, they are people that can compete with other people all over the world. People will always tell you the standard is falling but who is setting the standards?
“Even this year alone, I have signed letters of professional standing for over 260 Nigerians going to teach in Canada alone and as of this morning; we have letter from the United Kingdom from head of their teaching council”, he said.
Also speaking, Registrar, National Examination Council (NECO), Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, who spoke on the global acceptability of NECO certificate, said its certificate had global recognition through educational assessment body.
According to Wushishi: “NECO is a strong member of the International Association for Educational Assessment and we play a vital role in the global assessment of examination.
“So candidates that took their NECO examinations are being admitted into secondary and tertiary institutions in foreign countries like in the U.S, Canada, Germany, India, China, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden and they write the Council to authenticate the results from NECO”.
He further disclosed that between January to August 2022, the Council has received 490 requests from more than 50 countries across the world to confirm the authenticity of candidate’s results.
Prof. Wushishi, however, advised Nigerians not to take the education sector for granted, saying that the sector should be projected in a good light to the world.
Meanwhile, Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, while applauding ECAN on its role in projecting the image of the country, especially in the education sector, called for the introduction of a National Education Insurance Scheme to address the problem of access, especially in private universities.
Represented by the Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, Prof. Oloyede said this would go a long way in addressing issues surrounding the ‘shortage of admission spaces’.
“The Federal Government put in place state institutions to address the need of admission access because one of the major problems is spaces in our institutions and most candidates cannot afford these institutions.
“The country should be able to support the education scheme whereby certain percentage can be paid by the Federal Government so that subscribers can attend private institutions,” he said.
