If we add the undergraduates in private institutions and Postgraduate students…. It could be up to 2.5milliion students…..
In the next 5yrs these students will spend about N125billion on final yr projects…
If we add those who do projects in National Diploma level it could reach N150billion…at average of N50,000 per student ….. That’s N30billion per year…
It’s this massive investment by Nigeria parents on final year projects worth it?…
Final year project is where theory meets practical innovation…. It helps students solve real life problems including industry readiness…
In recent years the benefits of this all important research projects are gone….
The projects are now contracted to external bodies with some lecturers as the contractors…who write these projects and give to students to defend…
In some cases artisans build these projects from zero to completion without a single input from conceptualization to completion…from the students….
The write up are documented shelved until they run out of Shelves and find themselves in Akara shop…
In developed countries, Research projects are Digitalized and store in open access websites for easy retrievals and commercialization…
This would generate low-cost engineering solutions for local problems (energy, food, water, healthcare).
students could form innovation clusters or startups around their projects.
Nigeria could reduce import dependence on foreign technology by leveraging indigenous designs…
It won’t cost institutions more than N10million to create these digital database for final year projects…
But mismanagement and lack of creative thinking is leading to Nigeria inability to take advantage of final year students research to create massive jobs and industrialize…
Most of those projects have No industry-university linkage to commercialize ideas.
There are weak mentorship and follow-up after graduation
…. Most of the graduates don’t build on their final year projects…. Many didn’t do it anyway..
So every year … Nigeria parents throw an average of N30billion to the dustbin call projects by their kids…
To create a synergy to transform Nigeria students final year projects to the springboard of Nigeria industrialization and massive employment of graduates………
States commisioners & ministers of Education, Agriculture, Science and technology, industries and commerce, TETFUND, NBTE, NUC must all wake up from slumber and convert the Students final year projects waste to Nigeria wealth….