Arc. Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has encouraged Nigerian tertiary institutions to speed up the adoption of ICT in teaching, research, and administration.
He made this call in Abuja on Monday while speaking at a 2-Day Workshop on Blackboard/TERAS Adoption and Usage in Beneficiary Institutions, organised for Registrars, Bursars, Directors of Academic Planning and ICT, and Thesis Project Repository Managers of beneficiary institutions. Echono warned that billions of naira already invested in ICT infrastructure could go to waste because they are not being adequately utilised.
He said that despite TETFund’s early investment in digital learning platforms such as the Tertiary Education, Research, Applications and Services, TERAS, many universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education were still lagging in ICT adoption. “We are no longer confined to the four walls of classrooms. With just an Android phone or a device, students should be able to access content, participate in learning, and acquire skills. There is no alternative to technology if we must prepare our youths for the opportunities ahead,” Echono said.
The TETFund boss lamented the slow pace of transition to digital platforms in many institutions, some of which still send hardcopy requests to TETFund despite clear directives for an online copy.
He stressed that robust and regularly updated institutional websites should be a minimum requirement in the digital age, describing many schools’ online presence as “embarrassingly outdated.”
