NIGERIA EDUCATION CONFERENCE & AWARDS NECA 2022 REPORT
Theme: Reimagining The Role of Technology in the Nigeria Education System.
Date: 30 November, 2022
Time: 10:00 – 02:00
Website: www.nigeriaeducationawards.com
NECA 2022 in brief
With the pandemic catalyzing the largest online learning and remote working experiment in history, countless industries have collectively started to consider whether it will be even possible to return to ‘normal life’ after this. The Nigeria Education Conference & Awards is an annual event designed to showcase solutions, innovations, policies and companies leading the way within the changing education environment.
The Nigeria Education Conference & Awards brought together about 150 industry leaders and stakeholders in the education sector: Administrators, education technology founders, education publishers, education institution leaders, educators, investors, venture capitalists, foundations, and Non-Governmental Organizations.
We hope that by curating a series of ideas and connecting you virtually with other members of our national education ecosystem, we have been able to come together, and encourage outstanding contributions with the awards; and it is our belief that these engagements will help further drive change across the education sector.
The Nigeria Education Conference & Awards (NECA) is a top brand event organized by The Educational Tide Magazine (www.educationaltide.com) as an annual event bringing together key stakeholders in the Education and allied sectors to deliberate on major current issues affecting the sector as well as showcase innovations and honor individuals and organizations that have contributed positively to the sector.
This year 2022 event with the theme ‘Reimagining The Role of Technology in the Nigeria Education System featured A keynote speech, a paper presentation, and two-panel session discussions. See the event flyer above for the list of speakers at the event.
Summary of Event Proceedings
The event was opened by the event compere, Alimat Adesola. She introduced the event and acknowledged the presence of speakers, partners, special guests, and participants. She went on to introduce the publisher of The Educational Tide magazine (www.educationaltide.com), Engr Ike Chilaka, who was the convener of NECA 2022 to present his welcome address alongside the representative of the lead partner for NECA 2022, Stephanie Adesanya. In his welcome address, he reflected on the effect of the pandemic and its attendant disruption of the education sector in Nigeria. He reiterated the commitment of The Educational Tide to continue to support such engagements of critical stakeholders in the education sector.
Keynote Speech
The keynote speech on the theme of the event was delivered by Prof Abiodun Adebayo, Vice Chancellor of Covenant University. He talked extensively about how technology adoption in the Nigerian education system can move Nigeria from a third-world nation to a first-world nation.
He avered in his presentation that a campus is a place where national assets are refined. That the ultimate goal is to facilitate the prosperity of every nation and boost the global economy through skilled human capital. He reflected on how learning experiences can be designed to be more relevant, personalized, and responsive. He said these can be achieved by finding better ways of doing things and also finding better ways of looking at national challenges.
He stressed the urgency of innovation in education, citing the evolution of time – the stone age – the industrial revolution – the information age, and now a knowledge-driven economy. He also talked about indicators of innovation and excellence in education service delivery. These indicators include:
1.Innovative processes and structure 2.Innovative educators
3.Innovative students and learners.
Awards
The following awards were presented.
1. Outstanding ICT Teacher of the Year Award Philip Ewuoso Ayodipo
2. Technology Education Leader of the Year Award 2022 Oracle Academy.
3. Going the Extra Mile (GEM) in Tech Education Award.
Sultan Akintunde (HackSultan)
Paper Presentation By Prof Izu Nwachukwu
Topic: Deconstructing Sustainable Tertiary Education Funding in Nigeria
Professor Izu Nwachukwu in his presentation stressed the need for adequate funding in the education sector, as well as alternative funding options to phase out the spate of incessant strikes in the Nigerian education system.
In stating the current state of education service delivery in Nigeria, he said illiteracy and the profound lack of access to quality education in Nigeria remain the major reason why our nation is stuck in poverty, despite being blessed with an abundance of human and natural resources. The impact of childhood poverty is perhaps the biggest challenge to educational attainment in our children.
Professor Izu quipped that traditional teaching models were squarely focused on knowledge acquisition, with assessment methods based on simple recall of facts. On the contrary, succeeding in today’s rapidly changing global economy will depend on a new model where the initial learning experience is not so much about acquiring knowledge and skills for a specific career, but more about learning how to learn; and developing transferable skills (like communication, problem-solving and interpersonal skills).
He surmised that this competency-based approach to learning will help build a foundation upon which our children become more flexible and adaptable lifelong learners that are better suited for the changeable demands of the labour market in the long term. Professor Izu concluded by stating that a switch to competency- based education is perhaps the single most important innovation that will address the quest for excellence in education service delivery in Nigeria.
Micro Talk 1
Oracle Academy – Advancing Computing Education in Nigeria. Oracle Academy Program Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, Bekere Amassoma talked about Oracle Academy, which is the philanthropic arm of Oracle Global. She said n her presentation that Oracle Academy partners with about 15,000 institutions across 128 countries. Through this free program – for students and educators – Oracle academy supports over 6.3million students annually.
She said Oracle Academy resources include:
Membership – Institution and faculty membership.
Curriculum and tools – full curriculum on Database, Data Science, Java, Cloud Computing, Project Management etc. She added that a certificate of completion is also awarded for all courses.
Cloud environments are provided for teaching database and application development (APEX). There are also Java development environments such as Alice, Greenfoot, Eclipse, Netbeans, etc.
Oracle software licenses for classroom teaching purposes and not-for-profit research.
Membership recognition – e-badges, member spotlight etc.
Other speakers include:
Akintunde Sultan, Co founder AltSchool Africa.
Julius Ilori, Founder Learners Corner
Obasanjo Fajemirokun, FOunder Brace Up The Young.
And other speakers who were part of panel sessions 1.0 and 2.0.
Author: Adam Adewoye adam.adewoye@nigeriaeducationawards.com info@nigeriaeducationawards.com
