Malam Aliyu Biu, Registrar, National Mathematical Centre (NMC), has urged the Federal Government to provide special funds to tertiary institutions to purchase relevant tools for successful e-learning.
Biu said this at the 2nd Obiageli Adoro Memorial Lecture organised by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), NMC branch, on Friday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the lecture was “COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and opportunities for industrial relation in tertiary institutions”.
According to him, the pandemic is real and has ravaged the university system in terms of loss of workforce, disruption of academic calendar and cuts in budgetary allocation for infrastructure development.
He acknowledged the fact that there were so many demands on government, but advised those in authority to take e-learning seriously in the universities.
The Registrar posited that if the university system needed to make relevant progress or compete globally, it must adopt e-learning which involved the use of ICT for teaching, learning, research and other related academic activities.
“Another thing I want you to take away is that the effect of the pandemic is not all that bad; in fact, the challenges have come with a lot of opportunities.
“For example, the issue of e-learning involving the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for transmission of knowledge, has been a way of life in the developed countries.
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“But in our country, except the private universities, the public universities, for obvious reasons, are not too much accustomed with the usage of ICT. But the pandemic has opened up that area.”
Biu, however, noted that reduction of resources could pose strain in the university system, hence all relevant stakeholders should ensure that all their actions or inactions were guided by relevant national laws.
“This, I believe, will reduce chances or opportunities for dispute in our campuses,” he added.
Mr Olorunsuyi Ademola, Chairman of SSANU, NMC chapter, said that the memorial lecture was instituted to provide a platform for intellectual discourse on the real essence of unionism and build capacity on idea of human relation.
Ademola also said that the aim of the programme was to encourage the development of leadership skill and virtues, and also foster productivity, ethical development and national reorientation.
“We gathered here today to mark the second year of the departure of our beloved sister, Obiageli Adoro.
“Though she exited this world two years ago, her legacies as a true leader and an accomplished personality are still visible with us.
“As we remember our fallen hero, it is pertinent to recognize the ideas she stood for,” he said.
The chairman appreciated the respective union’s zonal members for their financial support toward the construction of the union’s secretariat while soliciting for more support from spirited Nigerians.
NAN reports that the union made a donation of N200,000 to the family of late Adoro to support their up-keep. (NAN)