Nigerian varsities partner NASSI to close skills gap

The Committee of Deans of Engineering and Technology of Nigerian Universities is seeking to partner the Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) to boost entrepreneurship in the country.

Former Chairman of the committee, Prof. Christian Bolu, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja, when he led a delegation on a courtesy visit to NASSI’s management.

Prof. Bolu, who is also the dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Covenant University, said that the aim of the visit is to involve NASSI in the training of engineers in Nigerian universities, particularly in the practical aspect.

He said that the partnership would close the gap between the academia and entrepreneurs in the country.

“There are about 55 universities offering engineering programmes out of the 200 universities in Nigeria and this committee is for all the deans of the faculty of engineering.

“The main goal of this committee is to share ideas on how we can improve the training of our engineers. We found out that there are many things lacking, particularly getting our students to work and understand how industries operate in Nigeria.

“We want to make sure they acquire the exact skills they need so that when they graduate, they don’t have to run around doing jobs outside their fields or go into banking rather they should being useful in factories,’’ he said.

According to him, the committee also wants to find out the problems in the industry and communities and be part of the solution so that the things students execute as practical will be based on problems coming from the industry.

He recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in June signed a new engineering law which emphasised on Nigerians solving their problems.