Kwara State is investing heavily in all areas of its education sector, from improving the standard of teaching in its primary and secondary schools to establishing new tertiary institutions and technical-skills centres. 

The state government, through its Every Child Counts programme, is tackling issues and challenges around quality education at primary-school level. This is part of the broader and multi-year Kwara State Education Reform Agenda. This includes the reform of the primary school curriculum to focus more on literacy and numeric skills; improving the quality of teaching in schools; and the provision of key textbooks, among other goals. A major step forward for the children of Kwara was achieved with the delivery in 2009 of at least five free textbooks to each primary-school child in the state. In support of growing the culture of reading, a three-day book fair has been inaugurated by the Kwara State Ministry of Education, Science and technology in collaboration with the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC). This is held in September and gives book publishers an opportunity to ?t1owcase their products. A Teacher Needs Assessment survey conducted in 2008 has served as a valuable benchmark for structured improvement in the years that followed. Agencies such as the World Bank routinely engage in education support interventions in Kwara State, a sign that the policies of the state government are trusted to deliver. The Education College at Oro has been the subject of reform initiatives, ongoing teacher training has been conducted and improved monitoring of performance has been achieved by the establishment of a Quality Assurance Bureau.

Tertiary education
While primary education has been a key goal for several years, the state has not neglected the training and tertiary sectors. The strategy for tertiary education is based on the premise that no society can compete on a global level without human resources that exhibit market relevant skills. The administration's commitment to this philosophy is evident in the recent establishment of the Kwara State University, the International Aviation College and the planned International Vocation Centre. Because of the importance of agriculture in Kwara State, there is a great need for training in this industry. Teaching modern farming techniques is not sufficient, however, and it is particularly important to train students who can work as business managers in the agriculture sector. Technical skills are also needed in agro-allied industries.

 

Kwara State University

The new Kwara State University (KSU) is a key component of the state's plan to boost economic growth. It is envisaged that a larger number of skilled professionals in the state will lead to an increase in investment from companies that require an educated workforce. It is therefore not just about providing education, but about developing the state's human resources on a very targeted level. KSU was established because within a few years the existing University of lIorin will no longer be able to cope with the amount of students that the secondary schools are rolling out. With the amount of effort currently put in to improve the quality of education at primary and secondary school level, it is foreseen that the number of students qualifying for university education will increase significantly. From conception in the year 2004 to the passing of the required legislation in the Kwara Legislature, to the appointment of staff, the idea of Kwara University came to fruition in record time.

By June 2009, Vice Chancellor Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, formerly a professor of African and African American Literatures and Comparative Poetics at Western Illinois University, was in his position. Staff underwent a rigorous selection process and by December 2009 the university was in a position to begin lectures. The university operates on three campuses and comprises five academic colleges:

• Education
• Pure and Applied Science
• Agriculture and Veterinary Science
• Information and Communication Technology
• Arts, Humanities, Management and Social Sciences.
  

 In addition, there are the following specialist institutes and centres: Institute for Asian Studies; Centre for Human Rights and the Law; Centre for Modernity and Religion; Centre for Art Preservation; Centre for Innovation and International Studies; Centre for Sponsored Projects; Centre for Bio-Computational Application; and Entrepreneurial Centre.

The motto of the university is 'The University For Community Development'. Every student of geography, pharmacy, history or medicine will be required to do some community work as part of their preparation for their degree. Collaboration with other tertiary institutions is central to KSU's plans. It is currently in discussion with Essex University in the United Kingdom to enable KSU to award degrees of Essex University in Nigeria, especially in fields such as business administration and accounting. The Nigerian army's education college at Sobi is situated near to the Kwara University and plans are under way for the two institutions to cooperate.

In a very short time-frame, KSU has established links with some of the most prestigious universities in the world:

• Harvard, from where the provost of the College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences was hired, is exploring research collaboration in the area of African oral traditions and performance, and in jointly establishing an African Diaspora Studies Centre.
• African Week will be run in Bangkok in 2010 by KSU in a joint venture with Thailand's Ministry of Education and Thammasat University, the second oldest in Thailand.
• Memoranda of understanding are being developed for academic collaborations and student and lecturer exchanges with Thammasat University and the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Columbus State University, USA.
• Scholars from Princeton and Harvard gave lectures at KSU in the first semester of the university's academic life.

International Vocation Centre

  The Kwara State Government is currently in the process of establishing an International Vocation Centre (IVC), based on the Dubai Knowledge Village. The administration is in talks with United Kingdom-based TTE Technical Training Group, the company that established the Dubai facility, to run a similar project in Kwara State. The idea is to develop people's technical skills to enable them to work in industries such as oil and gas, manufacturing, tourism, etc. The chief areas of expertise to be trained at the IVC are mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering and domestic engineering. Domestic engineering refers to technicians dealing with residential houses and other forms of accommodation such as apartment blocks. Industrial will be technical people who deal with things related to big construction projects. There will be a real industry connection between the Vocation Centre and the market. It is expected that businesses will establish themselves in Kwara State because of the skills training offered by the Vocation Centre. 

The Vocation Centre will establish Kwara State as the hub for technical skills training in Nigeria and the whole West African region. Two major academic: streams will be offered at the centre: students that will go into big industries like flour mills, international conglomerates like Coca-Cola and Cadbury or big manufacturing companies and those graduates who will start their own business. One of the chief aims behind the establishment of the centre is to uplift the quality of workmanship and the accountability of people working in the Technical field. The centre forsees a day when plumbers and electricians will arrive at a venue in a neat uniform and be able to identify themselves and prove their qualifications to the satisfaction of the client. And then do the work to a good standard. The City 8c Guild certification will be the benchmark used to set the standard. Courses will run for two years to be followed by experience in the work place and an optional third year to consolidate the learning process. Some of the equipment to be used at the centre will be new but some older machinery will deliberately be part of the training environment. This is to ensure that students have opportunities to maintain and repair equipment, thus making them more confident in working with machinery.

The centre's location is close to the capital city of lIorin at Idofio which is in the Ifelodun Local Government Area. Two major sites spread across three hectares will comprise the main workshops and there will also be an administration block. In setting up the centre, a skills transfer programme will take place whereby foreign consultants will work with locals over a period of two years. International Aviation College A new International Aviation College will soon commence operation in Kwara State. The college will train pilots for the aviation industry with the help of highly qualified instructors, and equipment such as training aircraft and modern simulators.

With an immense shortage of pilots across the world, the state government expects the project to make a huge contribution to the aviation industry. The number of airlines operating in Nigeria has increased considerably in recent years and there is a great demand for trained pilots. It is expected that airlines across Nigeria and West Africa will use the aviation college for full and recurrent training of their pilots.

Integrated Youth Training Farm
The success achieved by the 'New Nigerian Farmers' in Shonga has led to the establishment of the Integrated Youth Training Farm (IYTF) at Malete. The institution is focused on teaching students modern agriculture techniques. There is also a strong focus on the business side of running a profitable commercial farming operation. After students graduate, they are each given five hectares of cleared farm land and a loan to help them resettle as commercial farmers. 

Partnership and Investment opportunities in Education

Equity in the International Aviation Centre

The Kwara State Government is looking for investors to take up equity in the International Aviation Center. The project is a public-private partnership where the state government will cover the initial cost. When operations begin, the administration will begin to recover funds by selling equity so that government's share in the project will be reduced to no more than 50%.

Partnership with KSU

The new Kwara State University is currently in talks with the University of Essex in the United Kingdom to offer its degree in Nigeria. The KSU is also looking to establish similar academic partnerships with other international institutions.

Support services to KSU

Investors have the opportunity to deliver support services to the KSU. Areas that are open for investment include providing student accommodation, transportation services and establishing a publishing operation.

Skills training facilities

The private sector is invited to provide additional skills training facilities in Kwara State. A growing demand among the states residents to acquire market-related skills makes any private education facility a viable business opportunity. The Kwara State Government is looking for private investors to partner it in the rolling out of the Vocational Center. Demand for skills training is very high and the project managers expect good returns for investors. The expected date for the commissioning of the project is December 2010.

For more information, Contact
Fela Ibidapo, Special Assistant to the Executive Governor on Investment.
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TradeInvestNigeria:
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