Abuja – The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, says Nigeria must strive to ensure the survival of the African Centres of Excellence (ACE) project.
Adamu made the appeal on Monday at the opening ceremony of a five-day Capacity Enhancement and Sustainability workshop for ACEs in Nigerian universities.
The minister said it was a rare achievement for Nigeria to host 10 of 22 Centres of Excellence in Africa, adding that it called for commitment.
He said that it would be an embarrassment, if the project failed as Africa looked up to Nigeria to drive the ACE initiative.
“To be able to capture and host 10 out of 22 ACEs in the West and Central African regions is no mean feat; but it is a feat that comes with a price.
“Africa as a whole will now look up to Nigeria for the success of the ACE project.
“With a majority of the centres in Nigeria, it should be obvious that if our ACEs fail, the entire ACE project will crumble.
“This is something neither Nigeria nor Africa can afford.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ACE project is a regional higher education project for West and Central Africa with
support from the World Bank which ends in 2018.
He said that with two years left in the project’s life cycle, attention needed to be paid on how to sustain it.
Adamu said that the Federal Government would continue to work hard to sustain the project beyond its initial life cycle.
He, however, urged stakeholders to look beyond government and evolve a means of funding the project beyond 2018
Earlier, Prof. Julius Okojie, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), said that the ACE project was instituted in 2013 by the governments of seven African countries with support from World Bank.
He listed the countries as Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo and Senegal.
Okojie said that the project’s objective was to promote regional specialisation among universities in the participating countries within the West and Central African sub-region.
“It is aimed at addressing common regional development challenges and strengthening their capacities to deliver high quality training and applied research.
“For us to develop in all spheres of our national life, we must seriously consider advancement in science and technology, to overcome all our challenges.
“These considerations were the motivating factors for our participation in the ACE project.’’ Okojie said.
According to him, four of the 10 ACEs in Nigeria are health-related, three in Agriculture while the remaining three are in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
He said that the workshop was designed to strengthen the ACEs and ensure sustainability beyond the expiration of funding from the World Bank.
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On his part, Mr Andreas Blom, the World Bank Task team Leader, said that the project was a West Africa-led programme, adding that it had revealed quality of Nigerian universities.
He urged stakeholders to fashion out ways of sustaining the project, stressing that science and technology remained key to the development of the sub-region.
In his goodwill message, Mr Adur-Raheem Shittu, the Minister of Communication, urged stakeholders to utilise Information Communication Technology (ICT) for enhancing research and become globally competitive.
NAN reports that the World Bank, in 2013, provided 80-million-dollar grant to the 10 ACEs in Nigeria being hosted by Redeemers’ University, Mowe, Ogun State, University of Ibadan, African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
Others are Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Jos, University of Benin, University of Port Harcourt, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Bayero University, Kano, and Benue State University, Makurdi. (NAN)