ABUJA — Academic leaders and engineering experts are calling for a radical overhaul of Nigeria’s tertiary education system, urging the government and private sector to shift focus from certificate accumulation to localized product manufacturing and technological innovation.

The consensus was reached during the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) Independence Day webinar, where guest speaker Professor Abdulkadir Baba Hassan, alongside other participants, examined how engineering can drive Nigeria’s national development.

In his opening remarks, the AUST President, Professor Azikiwe Peter Onwualu, FAS, welcomed attendees and shared reflections on Nigeria’s journey since independence. He focused heavily on sustainable development, national progress, and commended the resilience and vital role of professionals who have chosen to remain in the country to build its institutions.

Dr. Vitalis Anye, Dean, School of Engineering, AUST, welcomed the speaker and contextualised the session by highlighting how mechanical engineering can be leveraged for national economic growth.

Speaking at the webinar, Professor Abdulkadir Baba Hassan, from the Mechanical Engineering departmnet, University of Abuja, highlighted a frustrating paradox: while Nigeria produces a rising number of universities and graduates, its domestic production capacity remains stagnant. Professor Hassan attributed this disconnect to a heavily theoretical curriculum, inconsistent policies, and a severe deficit in research funding, which currently sits at an estimated 0.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Unlike manufacturing powerhouses such as China, South Korea, and India, where university-industry-government collaborations are heavily subsidized, Nigerian academic research rarely transitions from thesis papers into commercialized marketplace products. “Manpower development has advanced more than research and commercialization,” Professor Hassan noted, warning against the culture of certificate accumulation without practical output.

To resolve the practical knowledge deficit among engineering students, the panel proposed a decentralized infrastructure strategy. Rather than attempting to upgrade every institution simultaneously under tight fiscal constraints, experts recommended establishing one fully equipped flagship university workshop in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

These centralized hubs would serve as state-of-the-art training grounds, ensuring students across multiple institutions gain hands-on experience in manufacturing, machine maintenance, and technical fabrication.

The webinar featured some robust contributions from particpants. Dr. Olusegun Toluhi emphasized that institutional discipline and patriotic values are fundamental prerequisites for national development. He strongly advocated for the implementation of regulated reverse engineering of foreign tech tailored to regional economic strengths, alongside targeted policies to attract skilled Nigerians in the diaspora back home. Addressing a question from Ms. Lizzy Asomugha regarding the high costs of giving students hands-on workshop experience, Professor Hassan proposed a pragmatic approach: If equipping every university faculty is financially unviable, the federal government or private sector should fully outfit at least one world-class flagship university hub in each of the six geopolitical zones to handle cross-institutional student training. Dr. David Afolayan posed a question regarding the shared responsibility of society and the private sector, not just government in funding research. Professor Adebayo Badmus concluded the active discussion by insisting that modern engineering cannot ignore digital transformation. He urged universities to urgently review curricula to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 3D printing capabilities, noting that mechanical engineering students must learn to design and rapidly fabricate physical prototypes via modern additive manufacturing.

The session concluded with participants united around a single message: Nigeria’s sustainable development relies entirely on transitioning from an economy that consumes foreign goods to one that empowers its local innovators to design and produce its own future.