Ajibulu Primary School, Mafoluku, Lagos.
Between 2013 and 2017, infrastructure, innovation, health, education, training and technological were relegated in Nigeria’s development agenda, according to a new study.
Nevertheless, market size, labour market efficiency, macro-economic environment, good market, financial market and business sophistication topped the development agenda for the period, according to the study conducted by the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, Oyo State.
Speaking at NISER’s monthly seminar series, Prof. Joel Babatunde Babalola of the University of Ibadan, said in spite of the country’s huge Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it performed below South Africa’s averages in all 2016 Gross Commission Incomes (GCIs), except in labour market and market size.
He said: “This might, in part, be because South Africa approached her development in a more comprehensive manner than Nigeria did. Similarly, based on 2015 GCI, Ghana laid emphasis on and outran Nigeria in basic and higher education, technology readiness and innovation, while Nigeria laid emphasis on and outran Ghana in macroeconomic environment and market (labour and financial) development.
“Like South Africa, Ghana also adopted a comprehensive growth trajectory towards physical capital, human capital and knowledge capital development, while Nigeria strictly focused on physical capital development.”
The study revealed that four weakest links in the chain of education and training in Nigeria were quality of vocational training, skillset of graduates, critical thinking in teaching and digital skills of population.
“The three weakest links in the pillar of technological adoption were fixed broadband Internet subscriptions, mobile broadband telephone subscriptions and mobile cellular telephone subscriptions, while the three weakest links in the pillar of innovation capacity between 2018 and 2019 were patent applications, international co-inventions, multi-stakeholder collaborations, cluster development and buyer sophistication.
To improve access to quality education and training, in preparation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, NISER recommended that the country should craft out measures to upgrade the quality of vocational training, skillset of graduates, critical thinking in teaching, digital skills of population required to apply knowledge and technologies to solve local problems.
