The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students’ Engagement, Sunday Asefon, has said the Federal Government is using digital education and skills development to improve students’ competitiveness and create economic opportunities for young Nigerians.
Asefon spoke on Friday at the Renewed Hope Students’ Leaders’ Engagement and Digital Acceleration Programme for the South-West Zone, held at Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti.
At least 50 students received free laptops at the programme, which had the theme, “Empowering students with digital skills and innovation.”
Asefon said the initiative was designed to equip students with digital skills that could help them explore economic opportunities beyond traditional academic qualifications.
He said, “Whether you are in Medicine and Surgery, Engineering, Nursing, Education and Social Sciences, digital education can still help you in creating better opportunities. That is why the President Tinubu administration does not joke with this initiative.”
Asefon said the programme would be extended to other geopolitical zones as part of the administration’s inclusion policy.
He also said the National Education Loan Fund had benefited about 1.6 million students, claiming that the scheme had helped reduce school dropouts linked to financial difficulties.
“Once you are qualified and you are a Nigerian, you don’t need to know any politician before benefiting from NELFUND,” he said.
He added that the administration was also strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training, noting that education should extend beyond obtaining academic certificates.
The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Prof Shehu Shaibu, said the Federal Government had disbursed more than N232bn in loans to students pursuing education up to the doctoral level.
Shaibu, represented by the PTDF Deputy Manager, Scholarship, Salman Olowo, said the government was seeking to produce graduates with technical and engineering skills capable of developing innovations.
The Head of the Department of Computer Science at EKSU, Dr Oluwatoyin Yerokun, urged the beneficiaries to use their ICT skills productively.
Yerokun identified areas including mechatronics, data science, automobile technology, architecture, design and the arts as fields where digital skills could provide economic opportunities.
The President of the National Association of University Students, Mitchell Anthony, said digital education could improve graduates’ employability because academic qualifications alone might not be sufficient in the modern economy.
Anthony also said Nigerian students and youths constituted a significant portion of the electorate and expressed support for President Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.