The Director, National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) Kaduna, Prof. Musa Garba-Maitafsir, has identified science and technical education as catalyst to the restoration of the Africa’s lost glory.

He said this on Tuesday in Kaduna at the 21st Conference of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (COMSTEDA 21).

The event hosted by the institute also featured the Annual Strengthening Mathematics and Science Education (SMASE) Africa Delegates meeting.

The theme of the conference is: ‘Empowering The Next Generation Through Innovative STEM Education’.

He stressed the need for the African countries to have a rethink and produce whatever their citizens required to be at par with the international community.

‘For instance, some decades ago, we were covered with what we produced in Africa, it is no longer like that now.

‘Now; if you remove China from all of us, we will be naked. So, we are not moving forward, we are not stagnating but moving backward.

‘Therefore, science and technology education is t
he key solution if we must urgently restore that lost glory and the earlier we do this, the better for the continent,’ he said.

The NTI boss further said that the only way for Africa was to pririotise SMASE, adding that, ‘at NTI, we are fully committed to making this happen.’

Dr Benson Banda, the President of SMASE Africa and Director, National Science Centre, Zambia, lamented that Africa was both ‘rich and poor’.

Banda said the continent was blessed with abundant natural and human resources that could only be harnessed with the deployment of science and technology.

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‘So, STEM should be high on the education agenda of Africa. NTI must therefore be commended for pioneering this conference,’ Banda said.

The Emir of Zazzau, Amb. Ahmad Bamali, noted that science and technology education holds the future of every Nigerian and African child.

Bamali called for caution in the application of Artificial Intelligence, saying, ‘it is a double-edged sword, it
has both advantages and disadvantages.’

Gov. Uba Sani of Kaduna State, said that his administration accorded priority to STEM, adding that,’education is generally accorded a pivotal focus.’

Represented by Prof. Sani Bello, the Commissioner for Education, Sani said the sector had been receiving top attention in the budgetary allocation and implementation of the relevant policies.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria