Investment in human capital will lead to productivity

The Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof. Joel Babalola, has identified improvement in human development, investment in research and expansion of functional and rural education as factors that will raise productivity in the country.

Babalola said this while delivering a lecture to commemorate the annual Faculty of Education Day of the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State last Wednesday.

He advocated for more investment in the nation’s human capital resources, particularly in the affective domain of the people.

This, he noted, would lead to reduction of corruption, which he noted, has been a clog in the wheel of the nation’s productivity.

Babaloa also said that education should be made to be productivity conscious in terms of administration, admission, instruction, examination, supervision and graduation saying that emphasis should be placed on how much was learned by students.

The professor of education management said, “For Nigeria to raise its labour and national productivity, it needs to move from the obvious emphasis on schooling and certificated head knowledge to holistic education in which emphasis is placed on educating the head, the heart and the hands”.

According to him, the education that Nigeria needs is the one that will enable graduates to adapt to changes and tackle the problems of the post-modern society.

To achieve this, the guest lecturer called for incorporation of entrepreneurial, vocational and technical education into the curriculum of education institutions in the country. Speaking at the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, UNILORIN, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who was represented by the Deputy VC, Management Services, Prof. Albert Olayemi, noted that while Nigeria faces enormous challenges, education faculties were given the country hope of a better tomorrow.

“For anywhere where there is learning, there is hope,” he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Dean, Faculty of Education, UNILORIN, Prof. D.O. Durosaro, had said that the dynamism of the institution’s administration challenged the faculty to operate a curriculum that was in line with global standard.

He noted that the success of the 7-point agenda of the Federal Government depended on the quality of the teaching staff at all levels of Education in the Country.

Highlight of the event was the conferment of awards on dignitaries including former Vice-Chancellor of the UNILORIN, Prof. Shuaib Oba Abduraheem for his contributions to infrastructural development during his tenure, while Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Oba Samuel Adegboyega Osunbade, was honoured for his contributions towards the resolution of the Nigeria civil war.

The monarch was the person that led the Nigerians in Diaspora delegation to General Yakubu Gowon and thern Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu during the war.

Others honoured include the Onisan of Isin Ekiti, Oba Sunday Ajiboye Adaloko, an alumnus of the university, the Kwara State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, the best principal in Kwara State for 2008/2009 session, Dr. O.A. Oloyede, Mr. Isiaka Mogaji, the Chairman of Kwara State House Committee on Education and Dr. Emmanuel Idem Ikpeme of the Faculty of Education and a member of the Nigerian Football Association.