FG unveils North West STEM project in Kano

Why Nigeria lags behind in tech, by COREN

The Federal Government has unveiled the North West zone of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) project in Kano State.

Unveiling the project, yesterday, at Government Secondary School (GSS), Rano, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, disclosed that 218 schools had been slated to benefit from the project.

The minister, who was represented by the permanent secretary at the ministry, Bashir Alkali, noted that STEM was designed to give students access to digital and updated learning materials, while developing their Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills.

HOWEVER, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has explained that the country remained technologically backward because it kept producing engineering graduates without requisite skills to manufacture.

COREN also blamed the country’s failure to join the International Engineering Alliance Washington Accord (IEAWA), formed in 1989 to regulate engineering practices across the world.

The council said it wanted a system where students could design and produce what Nigeria would consume, while creating jobs for themselves and others.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the opening of a regional workshop organised to train professional engineers on Outcome-Based Education (OBE), Prof. Baba El-Yakub of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, said COREN would join IEAWA, so that engineers in Nigeria could start producing for the country.