By Dayo Adesulu

Five of the continent-wide African Leadership Universities, ALU,  meant to train and develop thousands of young Africans who will develop the continent technologically, economically and educationally have been earmarked to be located in Nigeria.

This was revealed in Lagos by the first Education Minister of Mozambique, Graça Machel, and serial entrepreneur, Fred Swaniker, when they disclosed their vision to make Africa the hub of innovative education models and partnerships.

Graça Machel, who is the Founder of Graça Machel Trust, intends to achieve this feat by partnering with other organizations that champion the empowerment of youth, children and women.

Speaking about the future of education in the continent, Machel said: “We need to culturally ground students in what it means to be African. They must graduate thinking about impacting on a Pan-African level, not just their country.”

Founder, ALU, Fred Swaniker, said his target is to build a network of varsities that will develop 250,000 young leaders and entrepreneurs for Africa, with a vision to having five of those varsities built in Nigeria.

The panel cited a scenario in 2013, where 1.7 million students competed for 500,000 spaces in Nigeria’s   tertiary institutions. The dearth of higher educational opportunities in Africa’s largest nation is further worsened by the fact that university graduates make up 20 percent of youth unemployment and often remain unemployed for upward of five years after graduation.

To Swaniker therefore, there is clearly a need in Nigeria and across the continent for governments and the private sector to partner and re-think university access, as well as for universities to dramatically revolutionize how they prepare students not just for the job market but to become future job creators.

Swaniker describes ALU as blurring the line between tertiary education and “the real professional world”. ALU curates the best courses globally and combines them with Africa-relevant courses such as Entrepreneurial Leadership and Employer Courses to prepare students for success as professional leaders and entrepreneurs. Coupled with innovative technologies and student-driven learning techniques, he said ALU is creating an environment where future leaders of Africa can develop the necessary critical thinking skills and intrinsic motivation to succeed in jobs that haven’t even been created yet.

Key stakeholders from across the continent who converged at the prestigious Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, expressed optimism on the future of education in Africa. Ngosa Chungu, an award winning Zambian filmmaker in attendance, asked a thought-provoking question on how tertiary educational institutions can strengthen Africa’s creative industry and alternative careers. In response, Swaniker said that arts and culture are a vital part of society and that Africa has a great potential to develop a creative industry. He ,however, emphasized the need to equip those who study arts with entrepreneurial skills, so that they can actually make a living from their craft.