Nigeria Content Online

Except government provides adequate
infrastructural framework, the nation may not get the best out of the
educational system as even the private institutions may not operate
optimally.

This was the view of Margee Ensign,
president of American University of Nigeria, who briefed journalists
yesterday in Abuja before the commencement of the institutions board of
trustee meeting.

She said the key challenge facing the
educational institutions in Nigeria is lack of adequate infrastructure.
This contributes to not just the high cost of education in the country,
but also to the falling standard of education.

“Nigerian government should provide the
framework for operation of private schools in the country. Technology
is a challenge here and it affects the system, as what obtains around
the world is the use of latest technological concepts in disseminating
knowledge among students.

“This bears on the academic prospects in Nigeria,” she said.

She also said that the Nigerian system
of education often focuses more on the constraints rather than
proffering solutions to existing challenges.

The American University of Nigeria,
according to her, is bracing for the challenges, as the institution is
not only fully served but ready to release bandwidth to the community
in which it is located.

“These measures to boost the
technological capacity of the school would soon see the linking of
optic fibre cables to the Yola campus of the institution,” she
disclosed.

Ms. Ensign added that the school will
embark on research and development activities that will bring solution
to the myriad of problems in the Nigerian eceonomy, as part of the
institution’s corporate social responsibility.

The institution’s president also
disclosed that some new programmes have been introduced in the school
and that emphasis is being placed on entrepreneurship development. “We
started entrepreneurship studies since 2006 because we want to raise
graduates that create jobs,” she added.

She emphasised the need for
entrepreneurship education in the Nigerian university system, noting
that part of the success stories of foreign based universities is their
ability to incorporate entrepreneurship skills into their learning
system.

The American University of Nigeria is
said to be a non-profit making organisation, even as the fees it
charges run into millions. The school said it is so because the board
of directors is not making profit or enriching itself, as it hopes to
break even in the next five years.

The school is said not to have any
links with the American government in terms of ownership; it is a
privately owned university that has adopted the American style of
education.

Meanwhile, four personalities, William
Bertrand, Eamon Kelly, Laurence Day, and Earl Kellogg have joined the
board of trustees of the university, in a fresh move to shore up the
institution’s capacity internationally.

Beyond the fresh entrants, the board already parades an array of
prominent personalities like Mike Adenuga, Pat Utomi, Peter Okocha,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bamanga Tukur, among others.