SEEDS Conference Raises Hope For Nigeria’s Education Sector
Online news platform, Prime Business Africa seeks to proffer solution to the issues confronting Nigeria’s education sector in its Socio-Economic & Entrepreneurship Development Series (SEEDS).
The SEEDS Conference which is in its second edition, will hold on Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 4pm (WAT).
The theme, “Funding Tertiary Education In Nigeria: What Options?” focuses on the nature, sources and impact of funding tertiary education system in Nigeria and their overall effect on national development.
Education in Nigeria, for many years running, has faced a declining government budgetary allocation in the face of increased student enrolment as well as aging and dilapidated facilities.
Education budget has been on a steady decline, and in the 2021 budget allocation, the sector got 5.6%, its lowest in 10 years when measured as a percentage of the total budget.
There have been calls for relevant stakeholders to collectively show commitment to developing implementable strategies and initiatives that will significantly enhance the level of education funding on a sustainable basis for public tertiary institutions in the country.
The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, recently stated that for Nigeria to be a player in the 21st century economy, it must prioritise and consistently improve education sector funding, adding that “no nation can talk about meaningful achievement without the development of its human capital. It is through the upgrade and sustenance of human resources that other factors needed to grow the economy can be given meaning.”
Prime Business Africa’s SEEDS Conference will explore internal and external funding architecture to address these challenges and provide a good environment for the sector to thrive.
A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and 2023 presidential aspirant, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu will be the keynote speaker.
Panelists will include the Director, Centre for Public Policy & Research, Dr. Sam Amadi. Amadi, a former Director General of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), who has chaired several senate technical committees and has been part of presidential committees in Nigeria, will speak on infrastructure, especially energy deficits and solutions for tertiary institutions.
The Head, Mass Communication, Baze University, Abuja, Dr. Abiodun Adeniyi will also be a panelist. Adeniyi has served as consultant on many projects in the public and private sectors, including the platform of the World Bank Economic Reform and Governance Project (ERGP) at the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
Other members of the panel are non-Resident Senior Fellow, Global Governance Institite, Brussels, Ambassador Ejeviome Eloho Otobo; Dr. Bashir Abdullahi of Modibbo Adama University (MAU), Yola; Dean at The College of Southern Nevada-Las Vegas, United States, Prof. Charles Okeke; international development strategist and Founder of the Lekki Peninsula College, Bunmi Oyinsan; and Economic Analyst with the Lagos Business School, Bongo Adi.
The conference, which will be virtual, will be moderated by the Founder Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) Prof. Pat Utomi and a former Editor of The Guardian Newspaper, Mr. Jahman Anikulapo.
The Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Prime Business Africa, Dr. Marcel Mbamalu, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Newstide Publications Limited, is the host of the event.
According to Mbamalu, the SEEDS monthly conference is the Newstide Publications Limited’s way of adding value to continental economy and supporting individual African countries to address their socio-economic challenges.
“We at Prime Business Africa will continue to keep faith with this mandate of the Board of Newstide Publications Limited,” Mbamalu, who was until early 2021, the News Editor of The Guardian, said.
The conference begins at 4pm via Zoom – https://bit.ly/PBASEED2
