Lagos — Knowledge and technology must be put in the front burner if Nigeria is to experience meaningful economic development, the Managing Director of Hewlett Packard West Africa, Dr. Lloyd Atabansi has said.

In a lecture entitled, 'Developing Skills for a Knowledge-Based Society in Nigeria', delivered at the 2007/2008 Prize Giving Day and Lecture of Bridge House College, Lagos, he said government needed to revisit the purposes of education which he listed as: intellectual development; transmission of culture; citizenship; higher education and employment.

He regretted that the education system in Nigeria has rapidly declined to the level that the system itself has been described by officials as now dysfunctional and may likely have challenges in competing in the regional and global demand for skills.

"While we continue to applaud the current administration's effort in the pursuit of an educational system reform programme, it is worthwhile to mention that it will need the support of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry to help in transforming the sector so that it can become world class."

He said government should address engineering graduates' unemployment by establishing specialised institutions to employ these graduates. According to him, Nigeria can develop a viable ICT industry if it transits into a knowledge-based society and that the nation's competitive advantage lies in its vast human capital's thirst for knowledge and its competitive spirit. "Nigerians are very eager to acquire new knowledge, but there must be a process for this knowledge to be harnessed and harvested internally by ensuring that engineering institutions have the capacity and means to invest and train graduates to effectively compete in the global market."

For the country to transit into a knowledge-based economy, Atabansi said it must engage in what he described as 'filling the skills gap', saying a recent Skill gap survey showed that 800,000 students sit for A-Level examinations, 75, 000 enter university, 32, 000 are first degree holders and 60 percent remain unemployed.

He said by building the technical capacity of its workforce, through quality engineering-education programmes, Nigeria could build a competent technical workforce, which would provide several paths to economic development; attract technically oriented multi-national companies to the country; effective use of foreign aid funds to build appropriate infrastructure projects and then have the technically competent citizens to operate and maintain them.

The Executive Director, Mrs. Foluke AbdulRazaq said the college was established to fill a vacuum for parents and students who desire sixth-form education. She urged the graduating students to channel their positive attitude towards excellence, through hard work and perseverance. "As you go forth, remember that a good university degree affords you a priceless opportunity to furnish your minds and enhance the quality of your lives" she said.

Certificates and testimonials were presented to a total of 98 students who graduated from both A-Level and University Foundation Programmes (UFP), while awards and prizes were given to deserving graduands. The best student in Science Miss. Sopriyi Dodiyi-Manuel got four awards, while the best student in Social Sciences, Miss Stephanie Ojinere got three.