Deji Elumoye in Abuja
Vice President Kashim Shettima has hailed the partnership between the Kukah Centre and ProFuturo Foundation in support of quality digital education, especially in vulnerable communities across the country.
Shettima said the initiative for digital education aligned with the country’s quest for skills education through the National Council on Skills and the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
He spoke on Wednesday, when he received a delegation from the Kukah Centre and ProFuturo Foundation, led by Bishop Matthew Kukah, on a courtesy visit, at State House, Abuja.
The vice president, who was earlier briefed on the successes recorded in the digital education initiative of ProFuturo Foundation in Nigeria, expressed fulfilment with the feat attained in school enrolment as well as quality of training and teaching since the commencement of the partnership in 2017.
He stated that though a lot had been achieved over the past years, there were still more grounds to be covered, given Nigeria’s growing population.
Shettima proposed an interface between the implementing partners of the digital education initiative and critical stakeholders, such as National Board for Technical Education (NABTE), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Federal Ministry of Education, and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
He said the interaction was to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas that could help produce robust solutions to the issue of school enrolment in Nigeria.
The vice president also assured the delegation of his desire to introduce the ProFuturo initiative to the National Economic Council (NEC) for the purpose of digitising the Universal Basic Education Boards across the country.
Earlier, Founder of the Kukah Centre and leader of the delegation, Kukah, said the delegation was at the Presidential Villa to show solidarity with the administration of President Bola Tinubu in the area of digital education.
He stated that Shettima’s commitment to the digital education initiative across the country was a demonstration of critical leadership necessary to proper Nigeria for the next phase of global development anchored on digital skills.
In his remarks, Deputy Director to the President of ProFuturo Foundation, Mr Albert Martinez, said implementation of the initiative in Nigeria was supported by a combination of strong local capability and commitment as well as dedicated political leadership.
Martinez stated that since inception the project in Nigeria had continued to make significant strides as a result of the dedication of stakeholders and their willingness to adjust where necessary.
Giving an overview of the programme’s implementation, the project coordinator, Dr Emmanuel Nkanta, said since its launch, 13 states, 123 schools, 72,000 students, as well as 1,150 teachers had been impacted by the digital education initiative of ProFuturo Foundation.
Nkanta stated that there was a need to bring on board more partners and improve funding to scale the interventions across the country.
