FULL TEXT Of The Distinguished Personalities Lecture by Gov Peter Mbah, Today at ESUT Permanent Site

FULL TEXT Of The Distinguished Personalities Lecture by Gov Peter Mbah, Today at ESUT Permanent Site.

Instructively, the most impactful policies are not necessarily those that create the biggest buzz. But they offer the clearest indices of human development.

Nothing transforms lives and paves a path to a promising future like quality education. It is the reason why one-third of Enugu State’s total annual budget went into funding education.

This translates to roughly twice UNESCO’s recommended

benchmark of 15%-20%. What this means is that for every 100 Naira spent, 33 Naira goes to the education budget. This funding has enabled us to implement both infrastructural and pedagogical overhaul of our education system.

Our will has enabled us to begin a transition from a system where pupils seemed, to all intents and purposes, to be merely going through the motions of learning, to an ecosystem of Experiential Learning

Through our Basic Education Smart Green Schools, we have introduced the “cut-off point”, whereby we target children from age 3, and begin to inculcate in them social habits, health habits, fine motor skills, and problem-solving competencies, introducing them to an experiential education system that helps them to navigate our rapidly evolving technological knowledge-driven world.

After three years of Early Childhood Education, having completed Nursery 1-3, our children complete Basic 1-9. During their twelve- year academic study in the Enugu Smart Green Schools, our children learn with interactive digital whiteboards, tablets, and

computers, they are immersed in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence Virtual/Augmented Reality, and Internet of Things.

Virtual/Audice technology and rey collaborate with rel They ped modern laboratories. They collaboraturath Civil Society equipnizations and Industry Partners to curate Innovation Organinges and solve community problems aligned with Sustainable Development Goals.

I dare say that the quality of our Smart Green School compares with the best schools anywhere in the world.

Upon graduating from the Smart Green Schools, about one- quarter of our children will proceed to Technical and Vocational Schools focusing on key competencies like Industrial and Information Technology, Building and Fabrication Engineering, as well as Industrial Agriculture, with the objective to become respected and skilled professionals, highly valued for their expertise.

We have commenced the construction of 8 Science, Technical, and Vocational Schools across Enugu State. This includes the Government Technical College (GTC), Enugu. We intend to restore the former glory of this school established in 1948.

The remainder 75% of graduates from the Smart Green Schools will proceed to Smart Senior Secondary Schools, where they would continue with Experiential Learning, in preparation for Scientific, Arts, and Professional Studies in any of our Tertiary Institutions.

As you can see, our children will come through a pipeline of Experiential Learning. Our universities must not only be ready for them, but should lead research, development, and innovation in Experiential Learning.

As a matter of fact, we hereby announce as a policy that all state-owned tertiary institutions in Enugu State must henceforth deliver Experiential Learning to our children. We want to see this change reflected in planning, budget, curriculum reform, assessment and promotions, as well as

research.

We must not forget that as Africans, we had been discounted in the Narratives and Histories of the making of this world order, and we must now embrace Disruptive Innovation to ensure that we write the next chapter in the Narrative of a new world system.

With a population of over 200 million and a median age of 18 years, Nigeria has the 6th largest population of youth in the world. About 70 percent of the population is under 30, and almost half is under the age of 15.

Among our teeming youth are some Emekas who continue to look to “japa” as salvation. But more and more, we are seeing numerous Ikechukwus, who are applying their intuitive intellect to thrive here at home.

For us, the youth bulge presents numerous opportunities.

The inherent potential in our youth bulge can be glimpsed in the fact that a largely young population best guarantees a steady supply stream for our state’s workforce. Our most pressing task now is to ensure that the youth bulge oils the wheels of productivity.

The solution goes back to the core of this lecture experiential education!

Given the very disproportionate ratio of students that universities are graduating annually to available jobs, the question has been asked if we have somehow over-idealized education. The answer is an emphatic NO.

All through our history, the benefits of education have always been self-evident. In our colonial experience, it was a weapon of liberation perfectly wielded in the fight for independence.

It equally proved a convenient tool of development as premiers of Nigeria’s defunct regions committed substantial funds towards their citizens’ education.

To a large extent, the the regions in the pre by and post-independence Nigeria were the ective of the amount of resources that each region had deployed to the education sector.

So, education will always remain an enduring legacy The challenge, however, lies in developing an educational ecosystem chal reflects the demands of the changing times. Today, it is the knowledge economy that reigns supreme. The indicators literally stare us in the face.

Coal was the single most important element of the Industrial Revolution. But few weeks ago, the United Kingdom the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution – shut down the last of its coal-fired power stations.

Let’s think about that. If that doesn’t serve as an instructive lesson, nothing else will.

An education system that fosters disruptive innovation is the solution we need to achieve a leap out of a cycle of underdevelopment. The existential crisis is all around us. Look at the folly of our-near total and decades-long dependence on export of natural resources and agricultural produce. This has made our nation acutely vulnerable to the vagaries of the international market.

Consider this: From being the prime contributor to Nigeria’s

economy for decades, oil has fallen off its “glorious” perch. Instructively, the ICT sector has been gaining ascendancy in the last ten years. In 2023, for instance, ICT contribution to Nigeria’s GDP was 16.7 percent. The figure for 2024 looks likely to rise, given the sector’s 19.8 percent second-quarter contribution.

On a similar note, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is projected to contribute up to $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

So, what would be the next economic turn and how do we prepare for it? As we invest in education, we must be conscious of nurturing an educational curriculum that caters to our pressing development needs, while at the same time, prepares us to feature prominently in the narrative of the next global economic turning point.

As history shows, to achieve progress, we must challenge the status quo. We are now at a watershed moment in our history. To turn the page, to achieve quantum development, we must now rend the fabrics of complacency and do the unusual and the unexpected. Experiential learning gives us the window of opportunity. And our universities must drive the revolution.

Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow is no longer something we wait for-it is here. The challenges we face today, from climate change to unemployment, demand immediate action, and the boldness to think outside the box. The solutions lie in you-your ideas, your resilience, and your capacity to innovate.

With the Smart Green Schools, and an ecosystem of Experiential Learning, Enugu State will prove that education can be a catalyst for sustainable development.

We are building not just schools but a new model for development, one that positions education at the heart of economic growth and sustainability.

Let us not miss this moment. Let us invest in our teachers, our students, and our communities. Let us commit to a vision where every child, no matter where they are born, has the opportunity to lead and innovate.

Enugu is setting a bold example-not just for Nigeria but for the world. We are showing that education, when rooted in action, can unlock the true wealth of a nation.

Indeed, tomorrow is here!

Thank you all for listening.