Shettima Hails Digital Education Initiative Reaching 72,000 Students

The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has applauded the partnership between the Kukah Centre and the ProFuturo Foundation in support of quality digital education, especially in vulnerable communities across the country.

He said the foundation’s initiative for digital education aligns with the nation’s quest for skills education through the National Council on Skills and the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Senator Shettima stated this, on Wednesday, when he received on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa, a delegation from the Kukah Centre and the ProFuturo Foundation led by Bishop Matthew Kukah.

According to a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, the Vice President who had earlier been briefed on the successes recorded in the digital education initiative of the ProFuturo foundation in Nigeria, expressed fulfilment with the feat attained in school enrolment as well as the quality of training and teaching since the commencement of the partnership in 2017.

He noted that though a lot have been achieved over the past years, there is still more grounds, given Nigeria’s growing population amidst competition in the allocation of scarce resources across the country.

Senator Shettima proposed an interface between the implementing partners of the digital education initiative and critical stakeholders such as the National Board for Technical Education (NABTE), the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), the Federal Ministry of Education, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

He said the interaction is to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas that can help produce robust solutions to the issue of school enrolment in parts of Nigeria.

The Vice President also assured the delegation of his desire to introduce the ProFuturo initiative to the National Economic Council (NEC) for the purpose of digitizing the Universal Basic Education Boards across the country.

Earlier, the Founder of the Kukah Centre and leader of the delegation, Bishop Matthew Kukah, said the delegation was at the Presidential Villa to show solidarity with the administration of President Tinubu in the area of digital education.

He noted that Vice President Shettima’s commitment to the digital education initiative across the country was a demonstration of critical leadership necessary to proper Nigeria for the next phase of global development anchored on digital skills.

In his remarks, the Deputy Director to the President of the ProFuturo Foundation, Mr Albert Martinez, said the implementation of the initiative in Nigeria was supported by the combination of a strong local capability and commitment as well as a dedicated political leadership.

He also stated that since inception the project in Nigeria has continued to make significant strides as a result of the dedication of stakeholders to adjust where necessary to enable the partners to deepen and expand the ProFuturo digital education initiative.

Giving an overview of the programme implementation, the project coordinator, Dr Emmanuel Nkanta, said since its launch, 13 states, 123 schools, 72,000 students as well as 1,150 teachers have been impacted by the digital education initiative of the ProFuturo Foundation.

He noted there was need to bring on board more partners and improve funding to scale the interventions across the country.

Also present at the meeting with the Vice President were the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu; Head of Global Operations of the ProFuturo Foundation, Mr Tomas Mensi, and The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Aisha Garba, among other officials.