…tasks govt on creating functional education with innovation in technology
From Kehinde Adewole
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants (ICAN), Mr. Segun Oke, has ignited the passion of the Nigerian youths in tapping on innovations derivable from recent advancements in technology to create jobs and fulfillment. He also urged the government to adjust our education Curriculum to accommodate a keen search for knowledge and training in the latest technological innovations and creativity, saying that would guarantee functional education that is impactful and encourage progress.
While addressing the youths on a three-day Summit on empowerment, organized by the Ekiti State Ministry of Youths and Sports Development, Oke outlined challenges of corruption and its adverse effect on creativity and innovation which he said could bring us out of the woods.
” Our challenge in Nigeria is that the system does not encourage innovation, although our youths are greatly creative. Corruption in forms of stealing public money on the part of our elders, stealing other ideas, favouritism, nepotism, and bad leadership is killing innovation and creativity in Nigeria. The immediacy and the Me-Me syndrome has eaten us up and people live for what they will eat and that festers corruption.
“Youths have stopped being innovative because they do not trust the system. If we must progress and encourage innovation, government must show leadership while our civil servants must demonstrate decorum. Our elders must change and realize that if you hand over corrupt practices to the younger generation, they would do 10 times of that evil.
“We have mortgaged our future as ethnic nationalities by always wanting to be nationalistic. We forget that our pains and needs as a Yoruba people are different from the pains and needs of our brothers and sisters in the north. For Ekiti, we are lucky that we are a homogenous people. Our politicians must realize that the essence of political parties is not to promote personal aggrandizement but to develop the people irrespective of our political divides, ” he said.
Urging government on the need for functional education, he said: “China has textbooks for virtually all levels of education in Artificial intelligence but what are our students studying in Nigeria?. Let us be practical, if our national Curriculum does not meet our local needs, let us change it. Our education must be experimental and feed from our communities.
The absence of integrity in our financial institutions has killed investment and partnership which promote economic prosperity. So, there is lack of collaborations and partnership in investment.
Government should encourage creative and collaborative economy which is working together to generate equitable shares.
We all must develop the right mindset and shun the culture of self but promote love and sacrifice for the growth and development of our community.
“lt is in this spirit that we have founded an NGO called Bridgewaters Foundation. We hope to train 100,000 Ekiti youths in exponential technology like Artificial intelligence, Robotics, Block chain, Programming, Cyber-security etc. We are seeking for partnership with government, corporate bodies and influential individuals to make this a reality. Our vision is beyond equipping youths with skills, we hope to build an innovation hub in major communities in Ekiti and beyond where youths are thought to identify problems and proffer indigenous and adaptable solutions to the grand challenges in their community leveraging on their skills, this will not only create huge employment opportunities for Ekiti youths but also make the state the hub of innovation and creativity in Nigeria.
“I am a diehard believer in the prosperity of Ekiti and my passion is to reduce poverty to the barest minimum. A state with a population of 3million people can be the economic hub of the world If we work hard towards it.
I schooled in several Universities abroad, and a fellow of the Chattered Institute of Accountants but I would never forget the days I spent on the rice farm, tilling it to get rice to sell to pay school fees and buy text books. They remind me of where we are coming from as a nation and where we are going to.
I witnessed the power of technology while schooling at MIT when I was introduced to two blind persons, a lady who is a software engineer and another blind guy who can operate three computers at once. My perception changed and I realized the power of technology.
Speaking more about innovation, he said: “Innovation began with man’s need to surmount the challenges that arose from his fall in the garden of Eden. And since then, every man-made things that assist us today has come from innovation, for example, hyperloop technology can now make it possible to travel from here to New York in 30minutes.
“The innovation of 3D printing where almost anything can be printed with the exact materials for manufacturing it has made it possible to print a car or a house you see on the internet in Europe, and make it appear here in Nigeria without importing it. With just $3,000 you can print a 3D Model house here in Nigeria.
Quantum theory infers that no problem remains the same way it was created and even after it has been solved. A problem solved yesterday has given other challenges today.
“The difference between creativity and innovation is that creativity is the ability/ skills to create something, generate ideas like sewing, making adire etc, while innovation is the ability transform our creativity positively to effect changes. Ability to take advantage of our creativity to make things happen.
“I give an example, Kodak was world’s photography giant for many years until it was overtaken by Instagram. Both could create photography but Kodak lagged behind in innovation by not paying attention to the shift in the demand for photography that people now prefer to share photos instead of just hanging them on their walls in the house, Instagram took advantage of the innovation of sharing photos and now is worth over $100 billion , far more than Kodak. This is the power of innovation.”
