The Association of African Universities (AAU) has praised Nigeria for being strategic in the realisation of the continental initiatives that the association needs to work with to achieve its desired result.
The Secretary-General of the AAU, Prof. Olusola Oyewole made this known in Abuja during a courtesy call of the association on the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU).
Oyewole, who said the AAU was concerned about the growth of higher institutions on the African continent, added that partnership with the committee would provide adequate network for the association, while also enriching its relations with the members.
“Africa has the largest number of universities in the world which cuts across countries and Nigeria is with the highest numbers of these universities.
“The AAU has common membership with the CVCNU, so AAU will be glad to collaborate with the committee of vice chancellors and that is why we have come to seek your support as CVC to assist the AAU serve its members better.
“The AAU is concerned about the development of higher institution on the African continent and other groups in the higher education system such as registrars, bursars, librarians and others.
“This is why the activities of AAU are not only directed to vice chancellor,” he said.
On Partnership, Oyewole said the AAU as an organ of the African Union Commission would take pride in working with the country.
Also, the AAU Director of ICT Services, Communications and Knowledge Management, Mrs Nodumo Dhlamini, identified the need to support the Nigeria Research Education Network (NGREN).
Dhlamini said that the country would have to learn from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and other countries in North Africa with regards to their success stories on provision of internet infrastructure for the benefits of education services.
She called for the restructuring of the management of NGREN, saying that the country must look beyond personalising the leadership of the facility.
“NGREN must be able to provide adequate internet facility for the Nigerian university system free from needless tax and meet the needs of the students.
“We really need to look at it without personalising who has been running it over the years; no one must be injured if we decide to appoint a competitively appointed CEO for NGREN.
“Rising from lessons from COVID, if we don’t solve the internet infrastructure issues, we will continue to struggle with the digital transformation.
“Nigeria really needs to look at how Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and those countries in North Africa are doing and really see what they have done differently in terms of internet infrastructure on universities campuses.
“And they can replicate here to better the system, as it is now a university set up that is not digitalised will not be able to compete with the rests of the world,” Dhlamini said.
The ACE Impact of the AAU, Dr Sylvia Mkandawire said that six Nigerian Africa Centres of Excellence were currently participating in the AAU digital education initiative programme.
Responding, the Secretary General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, solicited the support of the AAU in addressing challenges facing Nigerian universities in medical education studies.
Ochefu said the country was not left behind in the ongoing digital migration in Africa as the CVCNU recently developed an anti-plagiarism detection software called the EagleScan Anti-plagiarism software and had also developed a research repository. (NAN)
