Inorder to accomplish the SDGs and other goals of the Global Development Agenda, the Federal Government is dedicated to the principles, directives, and initiatives of UNESCO, according to Minister of Education Prof. Tahir Mamman.Mamman delivered a speech in Paris, France during the 42nd Session of the UNESCO General Conference.
Dr. Armaya'u Yabo, Special Assistant to Prof. Musa Garba-Maitafsir, Director and Chief Executive of the National Teachers' Institute (NTI), Kaduna, made this announcement on Sunday in Abuja.
In a statement, Mamman stated, "We will continue to collaborate with UNESCO to realize our goal of hosting a UNESCO Category 2 International Institute for Media and Information Literacy."
A National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics was established to build national capacity for emerging technologies. Other activities in the sector include the development of a National Policy on Artificial Intelligence and its ethical use, as well as its integration into educational curricula, and the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy.
Finally, Excellencies, Nigeria is grateful for the fruitful consequences of the collaboration between Nigeria and UNESCO over the years. It is concerning, therefore, that the Communication and Information sector of the Abuja office has just moved to the Multi-sectoral Regional Office in Dakar.
Although the Dakar component is operational, the Abuja component is not, and Abuja has not yet received any budgetary appropriations. For this reason, we fervently request that UNESCO move all of the sectors to the Abuja Office. The Abuja Office should run at full capacity in all of UNESCO's areas of expertise, despite the urgency of a change.
The Minister claims that the COVID-19 pandemic's aftermath is still being felt by the whole community, and that this is made worse by other global issues including the economic downturn, an increase in hostilities, climate change, the danger of natural disasters, and the denial of educational rights.
"UNESCO has continued to be relevant in offering solutions where its mandates apply," Mamman stated in spite of these. Nigeria is a firm believer in the benefits that UNESCO provides to both our national and collective endeavors in the fields of education, research, culture, communication, and information.
"We are determined to uphold UNESCO's mandates as follows and will keep pushing the boundaries of our partnership:1. We observe that decentralization has an impact on the education sector and that resources are becoming more accessible to the African region.
The Director-General's reasonable suggestions for the Case BASE budget scenario inside the Integrated Budget Framework have our approval.Nigeria is examining its progress toward fulfilling its commitments to the Declaration and consolidating the Safe Schools Initiative.
Our domestic actions are being driven by the national commitments made during the Transforming Education Summit, and we will keep an eye on Education 2030's success as we anticipate the "Summit of the Future" in September 2024.
In light of this, the government is continuing to fund the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), the National Home Grown School Feeding Program, and several other initiatives aimed at educating out-of-school youth, including the creation of a National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education.
The minister stated that in order to improve the employability of our young people, Nigeria has created important innovations like STEM education, inclusive education for the disabled, open, flexible, and distant learning systems, the Nigeria Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), and a Tertiary Education, Research, Applications, and Services (TERAS) platform.