Echono Receives Africa Leadership Excellence Award and TETFund Wins 2024 Anthology Visionary Award
Echono Receives Africa Leadership Excellence Award and TETFund Wins 2024 Anthology Visionary Award
…Education and Entrepreneurship is Africa’s Pathway to Unleashing Its Greatness – Echono
Echono, who received the Africa Leadership Excellence Award in Educational Development from the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, HE. Philip Davis, also delivered a Keynote address in line with the theme of the Summit titled “Africa Unleashed: Navigating Disruptions, Enhancing Opportunities,”
He described the event as a clarion call to galvanize policymakers, political and business leaders, diplomats, civil society and leaders of thought, along with other key stakeholders from across Africa, United Kingdom, and the rest of the globe to explore diverse pathways for sustainable socio-economic development in Africa.
He emphasized that Africa has commenced its journey towards repositioning itself in global affairs, and advocated that policies and blueprints that will help the continent in navigating the identified obstacles and optimize opportunities for its greatness must be considered as paramount.
Speaking on the importance of leadership, the Executive Secretary intimated that “First, Africa must address its leadership crisis by adopting genuine democratic principles and values, promoting good governance and culture of transparency and accountability to achieve political stability and ensure lasting peace and security on the continent.
Next, it must efficiently harness available funding sources (WB, AFDB, China-exim, and other bilateral loans etc.) and channel same towards massive infrastructural projects, with particular focus on energy (power), transportation networks, and modern communication systems, to facilitate economic development.”
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny S.T Echono bags the African Leadership Award for Education, Innovation, Agriculture and Community development in the African Continent.
TETFund Wins 2024 Anthology Visionary Award
Following the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) efforts to drive the infusion of technology into curriculum and instructional delivery process in Nigeria public tertiary institutions, the Interventionist Agency has emerged as winner of the 2024 Anthology Visionary Award for Leadership in transforming education through technology.
The event which took place in Orlando World Center in United States before a global audience of over 2000 participants drawn from Academia witnessed the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono receiving the award on behalf of the Agency.
In his acceptance speech on behalf of the Agency, the Executive Secretary highlighted that the initiative of the Fund are in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who aims to reposition the education sector in the country, and ensure all graduates of tertiary institutions attain digital literacy before graduation.
VMT NEWS recall that the Federal Ministry of Education under the leadership of Prof. Tahir Mamman unveiled the Tertiary Education Research and Application Systems (TERAS) and Beneficiaries Identity Management System (BIMS) on 17th of October, 2023 at the Federal Ministry of Education Auditorium, Abuja.
The Initiative which was driven by TETFund in partnership with Anthology and Blackboard team to promote a more inclusive ecosystem in tertiary institutions and provide wide range services to researchers, students and further enhance teaching and learning process in tertiary institutions.
Key Notes Points in Echono’s Speech
The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono has stated that education and entrepreneurship linkage is Africa’s pathway to unleashing its greatness.
This was revealed during the 9th Africa Leadership Magazine Summit in London, United Kingdom.
On deepening and strengthening regional integration, Echono stated that Africa must intra-trade and collaborate to benefit from the economic scale and leverage Africa’s collective potential.
While also promoting the need to revive a common identity and cultural renaissance that will assist the continent to preserve, celebrate, share and exports its rich heritage of customs and traditions in arts and culture, music and dance, fashion and cuisines, movies and athletic abilities through sport.
He added that it will provide a more equitable basis to build strategic partnerships with global players to access new markets, adopt new technologies and exploit investment policies.
According to him, Africa must also partake in vast opportunities presented by environmental sustainability and climate action, protect its natural resources, adopt conservation and renewable energy, to promote eco-friendly lifestyles and practices to guarantee a sustainable future.
“When Africa prioritizes its human capital by investing in health care, poverty reduction, social welfare, and education, it will build a healthy, skilled and productive population.
Indeed, empowering Africa’s young and growing population will yield bountiful benefits and enable the continent to leverage its competitive advantage in natural resources and human capital.
It will birth an era of rapid economic growth and a boom in innovation and entrepreneurship,” Sonny Echono stated.
Role of Entrepreneurship Education
On the role of entrepreneurship education, Echono pointed that “Entrepreneurship education seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success. It is the handshake between education and entrepreneurship, through which entrepreneurial attributes are imbibed.
However, the education system of many African states no longer meet the requirements of the modern-day competitive world. There is a disconnect between the curriculum offerings and the needs of society and this is reflected in the entrepreneurial development in the continent.
Entrepreneurship education will develop students to think in a creative and critical manner, to recognize and pursue opportunities, to establish and operate new ventures. Currently, our educational systems are producing graduates that will be dependent on others for their livelihood as opposed to those who can create jobs and generate wealth.”
Digital Literacy
According to Echono “In today’s digital world, proficiency in digital literacy is not just beneficial; it is essential for academic success and employability.
Many countries have successfully integrated digital literacy into their educational systems, reaping the benefits of improved teaching and learning outcomes and accelerated economic growth. With our large youth population and emerging technology industry, Nigeria is uniquely positioned to benefit from similar initiatives.
“However, our curriculum does not adequately address the digital skills required for modern workplaces and everyday life.
Some of the identified gaps include: lack of comprehensive digital literacy components in our existing curricula, which results in unprepared graduates who are unprepared for technology-driven job markets; educators are as well not sufficiently trained or resourced to teach critical digital skills; infrastructure such as computers and reliable internet access is inadequate, as many tertiary institutions are either un-served or under served.
“We do not have a digital literacy index to measure and benchmark our standards, and there is significant disparity in digital literacy and access between urban and rural areas, exacerbating educational and economic inequalities.”
TETFund Bridge this Gap,
To bridge this gap, TETFund as an Intervention Agency is supporting over 280 public tertiary institutions and has laid a strategic plan which will enable all students attain digital literacy before leaving the tertiary education system.
The TETFund Boss disclosed at the event that the Agency has designed a phased integration plan across educational levels and equipping educators in the country with necessary digital skills, facilitating critical partnerships with global bodies, and have established National Center of Excellence for Development of Digital Literacy and Emerging Skills.
At the event, over 2000 participants were intimated with the activities and ambitious plans of TETFund, and efforts that have been made to domesticate learning management systems, and better manage student’s information by deploying information systems.
The Initiatives Launched by TETFund
On how TETFund has assisted in bridging gaps in Nigeria, the largest nation in the continent, the Executive Secretary disclosed that the Agency has funded many innovative initiatives such as Research for Impact (R4i) and TETFund Alliance for Innovative Research (TETFAIR) targeted at deepening impactful research and uptake of research outcomes with potentials for commercialization, while adding that in 2023, over 600 lecturers from Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions have benefited from the R4i programme and have developed 95 prototypes from the initiative.
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Announcing the progress made on the TETFAIR, Echono said 44 teams of 176 researchers have been trained from tertiary institutions from the six geo-political zones, and the first cohorts have designed 16 prototypes, one of them being a hearing aid that is self-programmable, affordable and more suitable for African market.
“The team responsible for the design participated in the ARC Centre for Digital Innovation Entrepreneurship programme at the Sheba Hospital in Israel, where they presented their innovation at the international community. Interestingly, all prototypes under TETFAIR have been tested and we are receiving positive feedback from potential investors,” Echono disclosed.
He revealed further that the Agency is sponsoring establishment of four regional multipurpose research laboratories, twelve innovation hubs and twelve entrepreneurship centres in tertiary institutions across the country under the 2023/2024 interventions, in order to provide an enabling environment for conducting ground-breaking research and development of innovative technologies to enhance entrepreneurship, innovation and employability in line with global best practice.
While reiterating his belief on education serving as a powerhouse, linkage with entrepreneurship will catapult the continent to development, create jobs, promote technology adaptation, economic growth, and empower the continent’s population to drive sustainable development.
