Why Nigeria needs education for industrial development –NESG

The federal government has been urged to establish an industrial development policy nexus with education in an effort to foster the country’s economic growth.

The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian, Economic Summit Group (NESG), Dr. Tayo Aduloju, gave the advice during the University of Lagos (UNILAG) 55th Convocation Lecture, titled ‘Universities As Hubs For Development And Wealth Creation,’.

He cited the massive economic growth of Indonesia as an example, attributing the country’s economic turnaround to the role of a viable education model.

“We need to establish an industrial development policy nexus with education. All the models we have seen around the world, education is at the core of industrial development policy.

“If you are industrialising and you don’t have the capacity and you need to borrow the capacity, education answers the question where you will house the knowledge to build the capacity tomorrow.

“If you build your industrial policy to just bring people to exploit your resources with no capacity to build yourself, we will end up where we are,” he said.

He also called for a stronger between the town and gown to drive industrial development.

Earlier the Vice Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, stressed the importance of the lecture, saying it was geared toward contributing to the existing body of knowledge targeted at fostering economic development.

“In an era of rapid changes in knowledge, innovation and complex challenges, it is imperative to continuously evaluate how well our university is doing in fulfilling its social contract with society to provide fit for purpose manpower, generate new knowledge to address societal problems and provide technology to shape the future,” she said.

In a separate event, the Pro-Chancellor Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, inaugurated projects which included the African Centre of Excellence for Drug Research, Herbal Medicine Development and Regulatory Science (ACEDHARS) Building, 120 bed-space Moremi Hall extension and new ultra-modern Learning Commons, an extension of our library services.