Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, yesterday, unveiled plans to establish three specialised universities as part of his administration’s strategy to reposition the state as a hub for innovation, technology and human capital development.

The proposed institutions are the State University of Artificial Intelligence and Technology, the State University of Education and Technology, and the State University of Agriculture, Agro-Industrialisation and Technology.

Mbah announced the initiative while delivering the 55th Convocation Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), noting that the institutions would complement ongoing reforms aimed at producing graduates equipped with practical skills, innovation and entrepreneurial competence rather than certificates alone.

Speaking on the theme ‘Restoring the Dignity of Man: Enugu’s Quantum Leap in Human Development and Inclusive Prosperity Through Experiential Learning’, the governor said the universities would deepen collaboration among research, technology, enterprise, and industry to prepare young people for the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

He disclosed that the new universities would build on reforms already underway at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), the State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS), the Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo, and the State College of Education (Technical), where curricula are being redesigned to emphasise experiential learning.

Mbah said new degree programmes in Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Mechatronics have already been introduced at ESUT and IMT, while the ESUT College of Medicine recently emerged among the country’s top-performing medical schools in national accreditation.

The governor explained that Enugu’s education reforms draw inspiration from the Igbo apprenticeship tradition, which combines learning by doing, mentorship, discipline, trust and entrepreneurship.

“Our purpose is not to romanticise the past, but to apply its deepest principle to the future. This is why we embraced experiential learning—not as a foreign educational idea, but as a modern expression of our knowledge tradition and a twenty-first-century development imperative,” he said.