Why Nigeria needs to prioritise STEM education

In commemoration of World Creativity and Innovation Day, a United Nations day, which is celebrated on April 21 to raise awareness around the importance of creativity and innovation in problem solving with respect to advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Chief Innovation Officer of Businessplus LLC, Ekundayo Ayeni, has called on the Federal Government to improve the country’s quality of education by fixing the educational system through prioritising STEM education in schools.

Speaking with The Guardian, he said students should have access to modern technologies and learning resources, filled with more practical rather than theories.

In his words: “Any nation’s ability to access high-speed internet is necessary for the advancement of technology, by offering incentives to private enterprises to increase their coverage and by funding government-owned networks, Nigeria can invest in enhancing its telecommunications infrastructure, the country might increase its research and development (R&D) spending to promote technological advancement.

“This can be accomplished by setting up R&D facilities, supporting research initiatives, and providing tax breaks to companies that make R&D investments, the government can fund incubators and accelerators for startups and offer tax breaks to companies that make technology investments.

He added that the country has experienced significant progress in recent years in terms of creativity and innovation, though lagging in its investment into research, limiting Nigeria’s innovation level as a country

“We have a weak legal framework for the protection of intellectual properties and this is discouraging innovations as the creators are unable to fully protect it.

Our educational system is inadequate in many ways and this is affecting the quality of the workforce.

Many graduates lack the necessary skills for creativity and innovation, limiting the country’s capacity aside from the graduates who are going the extra mile to develop themselves,”

This year’s theme on World creativity and Innovation Day is “Step out and innovate” to embrace the idea that innovation is essential for harnessing the economic potential of nations

According to UN, the concept of creativity and innovation is open to interpretation from artistic expression to problem-solving in the context of economic, social, and sustainable development.

On World Creativity and Innovation Day, the world is invited to embrace the idea that innovation is essential for harnessing the economic potential of nations. Innovation, creativity, and mass entrepreneurship can provide new momentum toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It can harness economic growth and job creation, while expanding opportunities for everyone, including women and youth. It can provide solutions to some of the most pressing problems such as poverty eradication and the elimination of hunger. Human creativity and innovation, at both the individual and group levels, have become the true wealth of nations in the twenty-first century.