Academics will get due reward beneath my watch – Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, declared the dedication of his administration to make sure lecturers get their due reward.

He regretted the challenges confronting Nigerian lecturers, together with overcrowded lecture rooms, scarce assets and restricted alternatives for skilled growth, which he mentioned are the results of extended neglect of the noble career.

The president made the promise in the course of the 2023 World Academics’ Day commemoration at Eagle Sq., Abuja.

President Tinubu who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, famous that Nigeria’s future can solely be safeguarded by investing in training, empowering the lecturers and offering each youngster with the instruments to succeed in their dream vacation spot.

Within the keynote tackle titled, “Instructor Appreciation: Nurturing Minds, Altering Lives,” Mr President Tinubu mentioned, “Our dedication to actualising our training reforms is to drive the emergence and sustenance of a system that recognises that training is the mom of latest concepts and ground-breaking discoveries.

“With well-taught workforces, we aren’t solely going to construct a nation that thinks however one which lives in an interconnected world, a world the place the alternate of information and concepts is aware of no boundaries. With out motivated lecturers, we will’t construct a nation that fosters such worldwide cooperation, builds bridges of understanding, and addresses world challenges reminiscent of local weather change, poverty, and healthcare.

“So, training, to us, and I consider to you too, isn’t just a method to particular person success; it’s a path to world concord and sustainable growth.

“After all, our expensive lecturers, we aren’t simply going to focus solely on technological developments. The human facet of training is simply as important because the infrastructure. Our lecturers need to be handled with the respect and dignity they deserve. It’s my promise that we are going to work tirelessly to construct a society the place the trainer’s reward begins to manifest right here on earth,” the president mentioned.
Noting that each educated individual is a product of lecturers, President Tinubu expressed the nation’s gratitude to Nigerian lecturers, reassuring them that their career is a chief within the imaginative and prescient for the nation and her growth agenda.

“So, at the present time is extra of a thanksgiving to honour those that have nurtured us, those that have guided us towards the hills upon which we stand in the present day.

“I consider that there’s no automobile that may transport you to your vacation spot as safely as training. It’s the motive each youngster, no matter their background, awaits a way forward for huge prospects. It’s the motive the kid of a deprived household in a distant village clings to the identical future as youngsters from privileged houses with certainty.

“Schooling is the miracle that modifications the fortune of a household in a single era. Due to you, our expensive lecturers, we now have damaged down boundaries and created a society the place benefit, expertise, and laborious work supersede the circumstances of 1’s delivery.

“So, by investing in training, by empowering our lecturers, and by offering each youngster with the instruments to succeed in their dream vacation spot, we now have safeguarded the way forward for this nation,” the president mentioned.

New challenges, retirement age

Observing that the world has undergone critical modifications, President Tinubu mentioned within the age of synthetic intelligence the place expertise is remodeling each aspect of lives, lecturers face new challenges and alternatives in a digital period.

The president disclosed that he has directed the Ministers of Schooling to collaborate with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to comprehensively revise current tips “to make sure that anybody looking for to profit from this Act have to be totally ready to return to the classroom, outfitted with the most recent instructing strategies and abilities, particularly within the realm of data expertise”.

He continued: “I’m happy to share with you a big coverage initiative, the Harmonised Retirement Age of Academics in Nigeria Act 2022, which permits our devoted lecturers to proceed their invaluable service for as much as forty years or till reaching the age of sixty-five, whichever comes first. This measure is designed to retain the wealth of expertise inside our academic system and bolster the variety of educators in our faculties.

“I encourage every of you to think about benefiting from this coverage, however please keep in mind that eligibility is just not computerized. To profit from this Act, you will need to possess up to date instructing abilities, together with proficiency in data expertise, as we attempt to equip our college students for each the challenges of in the present day and the alternatives of tomorrow.”

Recalling that the function of a trainer had moved from not solely imparting data, the President mentioned it has prolonged far past that, and they’re now anticipated to be technologically adept, adaptable, and revolutionary.

“They need to equip their college students with abilities which are related to an ever-evolving job market, the place automation and AI have gotten more and more prevalent. Our dedication to training should evolve with the occasions.

“Our plan for the training sector is to make it a system able to harnessing the potential of latest studying applied sciences. Our agenda is to construct a system the place synthetic intelligence, augmented actuality, and digital lecture rooms will not be mere buzzwords. They’re instruments that may revolutionize the best way we train, study, and assume.

“We’re going to spend money on modernising our academic infrastructure and be sure that we’re in line with the world on the highway to the long run,” Mr Tinubu added.

On why the federal government determined to current the President’s Academics and Colleges Excellence Awards this yr, Mr Tinubu mentioned enhancing the situation of lecturers was not sufficient.

He said: “That is why we are going to foster a tradition of appreciation for our lecturers. That is why we are going to recognise their contributions not simply on World Academics’ Day however all year long.

“Our lecturers will not be solely educators but additionally mentors, guides, and function fashions who form the character and aspirations of our kids. Each nation displays the satisfaction of its lecturers.”

Academics, champions of transformation – Minister

Earlier in his opening remarks, Minister of Schooling, Tahir Mamman, mentioned the day provides a chance for society to have a good time its true heroes, describing lecturers because the champions of Nigeria’s transformation.

He mentioned celebrating and rewarding excellence within the instructing career was the federal government’s manner of encouraging and attracting certified individuals to the sector.

On his half, the Nationwide President of NUT, Audu Amba, acknowledged and recommended the efforts of the federal government to enhance the welfare of lecturers and their working situation, notably the sustenance of current initiatives to reward excellence and laborious work.

Whereas calling on governments throughout completely different ranges to scale up funding for the training sector, the NUT president urged lecturers to embrace innovation in expertise, simply as he appealed to stakeholders to offer digital instruments in addition to coaching alternatives to boost instructing and studying.

He additionally referred to as on the federal government to offer sufficient safety in faculties throughout the nation, in addition to make the instructing career extra engaging by enhancing welfare and infrastructure, particularly in public faculties.

Goodwill messages had been introduced by the Speaker of the Home of Representatives who was represented by Mark Useni and the Minister of State for FCT, Mariya Bunkure.

Additionally current on the occasion had been the Chairman, Senate Committee on Schooling, Adamu Usman; Minister of State for Schooling, Yusuf Sununu; Deputy Governor of Kebbi State, Umar Tafida, amongst others.

Stanley Nkwocha

Senior Particular Assistant to the President on Media & Communications

(Workplace of the Vice President)

fifth October, 2023