Obasanjo urges periodic review of education curricula

• Defends TETfund against allegation of bias
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has tasked regulatory authorities of the nation’s education sector to periodically review the curricula to align them with current trends.

Specifically, the former leader is concerned about reports of the mismatch between graduates and the industry requirements for employment, noting that the development was impacting negatively on the nation’s quest for rapid development.

The former President spoke at the second quarterly distinguished lecture organised by the National Universities Commission (NUC) with the theme: “On the march to re-invent the curricula of Nigerian universities for improved relevance and global competitiveness” in Abuja, yesterday.

Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, in his welcome address said the lecture was part of efforts by NUC to respond to the issue of university graduates who are unemployable.

Obasanjo, who chaired the occasion, noted that for any educational institution to remain relevant to the needs of the immediate environment, it must have a curriculum, which would serve as a guide to realise the vision of such society.

According to him: “We need innovation in the education sector, which entails re-engineering, re-invigorating and re-strategising the curriculum to make it more dynamic.”

The former leader stated that those accusing the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund) of bias against private universities were uninformed. He explained that the agency was constrained by the law establishing it.

He said: “I believe TETFund could have achieved more than what it is doing, but the law which established it did not allow this. What is needed is to amend the law. But I was there, I should have done it, but I did not do it. I believe if the law was amended, it would be able to take care of private universities.”