Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has called for urgent reforms in Nigeria's universities of technology, warning that the country's future competitiveness is at stake, Channels Television reported. He cautioned that a failure to align academic programmes with emerging global technological trends could leave Nigeria trailing behind as the world economy is reshaped by new technologies.
The governor delivered the message as the guest lecturer at a major academic event. He spoke while delivering the 38th convocation lecture of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, in the Imo State capital, where an academic procession marked the start of proceedings and set the stage for a discussion on the future of technology education in Nigeria.
His address carried a pointed title that framed the stakes in stark terms. The lecture was titled Nigerian universities of technology must lead in the fourth industrial revolution or jeopardize the nation's future, a phrasing that summed up the governor's central argument that the institutions can no longer afford to lag behind the pace of global change.
Uzodimma highlighted the growing influence of a wave of emerging technologies on the global economy. He pointed to artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, quantum computing and other advances, arguing that the fourth industrial revolution is already here and is restructuring economies, dissolving some industries while creating new ones, and rewriting the basic terms on which nations compete.
He framed the choice facing the country and its institutions as a simple but urgent one. The question, he said, is whether Nigeria is moving with the change or standing still and watching a generation of young people, described as the most populous and most technologically curious cohort in Africa, locked out of an economy they were born into but never given the tools to enter.
The governor also commended the president for policies aimed at promoting innovation, digital transformation and skills development, citing several key initiatives. He presented those measures as part of the wider effort to position the country to take advantage of the technological shift rather than be left behind by it.
Setting out how the pieces should fit together, Uzodimma argued that responsibility is shared across different levels. The federal government, he said, has built the policy infrastructure and the state government the operational infrastructure, while the universities of technology must now build the academic and research infrastructure that converts that readiness into economic transformation, with the three layers aligned and sustained over time.