• Says varsities must produce innovators, entrepreneurs, ethical leaders
•Calls for stronger industry partnerships, research commercialisation
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Executive Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has called for a fundamental overhaul of Nigeria’s education system, urging a shift from certificate-driven learning to competence-based education that equips graduates with practical skills, entrepreneurial capacity and the ability to solve real-world problems.
Okonkwo, who delivered the 14th convocation lecture of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), yesterday, said Nigeria’s national renewal depended on aligning education with the country’s developmental needs, technological transformation and the demands of the global knowledge economy.
In his lecture titled: “Functional Education and the Nigerian Project: Strategic Human Capital Development for National Renewal,” he argued that the challenge confronting the country was not the absence of functional education but the failure to align educational outcomes sufficiently with contemporary economic and social realities.
He added that the country must deliberately reposition its higher education system to develop the human capital required to build an innovative, productive, globally competitive and socially cohesive nation.
According to him, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and other emerging technologies has fundamentally changed the requirements for economic competitiveness, making it imperative for universities and polytechnics to look beyond the number of graduates they produce.
“Universities and polytechnics can no longer define success merely by the number of graduates they produce or the certificates they award. The more important question is whether their graduates possess the knowledge, skills, dispositions and practical competencies required to create value in an increasingly knowledge-driven, technology-enabled and globally competitive economy,” he stated.
The airline executive warned that graduate unemployment, underemployment and persistent skills mismatches reflected a disconnect between educational outcomes and national development priorities.
He maintained that higher education should not merely prepare young people to seek jobs but equip them to create enterprises, generate innovations, strengthen institutions and contribute meaningfully to society.
“The true purpose of higher education is not merely to prepare graduates to seek employment but to equip them to create knowledge, generate innovation, solve problems, establish enterprises, strengthen institutions and improve society,” he said.
Okonkwo identified technical and professional competence, innovation and problem-solving, entrepreneurship, digital literacy and ethical leadership as five essential capabilities that Nigerian graduates must acquire to remain relevant in the changing global economy.
He argued that entrepreneurship should no longer be treated as an optional course or an academic requirement confined to business schools, but as a philosophy that encourages initiative, creativity, resilience, opportunity recognition and responsible risk-taking across all disciplines.
Engineering students, he said, should be encouraged to commercialise prototypes, agricultural graduates should develop solutions across the agricultural value chain, while computer scientists should create digital platforms and artificial intelligence applications to address local and global challenges.
He also called for stronger collaboration among universities, industry and government, stressing that research must translate into practical solutions, commercial products and productive enterprises rather than remain confined to academic publications.
“Our universities and polytechnics must increasingly become centres where ideas are transformed into products, patents evolve into enterprises, and scientific discoveries contribute directly to economic growth,” he said.
He argued that Nigeria’s universities must increasingly be evaluated by their ability to produce competent graduates, support entrepreneurship, commercialise research and contribute measurably to national development, rather than relying primarily on enrolment figures, graduation rates and the number of accredited programmes.
Besides, he called for the revitalisation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), alongside renewed investment in polytechnics, engineering workshops, fabrication laboratories and modern technical facilities.
According to him, industrialisation and economic diversification require a steady supply of skilled technicians, technologists and engineering professionals capable of supporting domestic manufacturing and technological advancement.
He further advocated the integration of artificial intelligence and digital literacy into programmes across disciplines, noting that technological competence had become essential for productive participation in the modern economy.
“Digital competence is no longer an advantage; it is an essential requirement for productive citizenship,” he said.
Okonkwo also emphasised the importance of moral formation, arguing that technical expertise and entrepreneurial ability would not deliver sustainable national development without integrity, accountability and responsible leadership.
He warned that a society could produce highly skilled professionals and accomplished entrepreneurs yet undermine its progress through corruption, weak institutions and a lack of ethical leadership.
According to him, universities must therefore produce graduates whose intellectual abilities are matched by integrity, discipline, compassion and a commitment to the public good.
To achieve these objectives, Okonkwo proposed a comprehensive reform agenda encompassing competency-based curricula, stronger industry partnerships, research commercialisation, structured industrial training, investment in innovation infrastructure and a review of how universities and polytechnics are assessed.
He said accreditation should increasingly measure what graduates can actually design, build, create, research, produce, manage and solve, rather than focusing predominantly on curriculum content and institutional inputs.
“The guiding principle should be simple: education must produce capability, because the ultimate measure of an educational system is not the certificates it awards, but the capacity it creates in its people to build, solve, innovate and transform society,” he said.
He also advocated stronger partnerships between educational institutions and employers to ensure that students gain practical experience before graduation.
Using the partnership between United Nigeria Airlines and ABUAD as an example, he disclosed that approximately 20 final-year aeronautical and aerospace engineering students would undertake structured industrial training with the airline annually under a renewable 10-year framework.
He said the pioneer cohort had commenced a six-month practical programme at the airline’s engineering facility in Lagos, where the students were receiving exposure to aircraft maintenance, avionics, safety procedures and professional aviation practices.
Addressing the graduating students, Okonkwo urged them not to regard their certificates as the ultimate measure of their education, but to demonstrate their learning through practical contributions to society.