Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu state, says Nigeria is underdeveloped because youths are not taught productive skills in school.

The governor spoke on Tuesday while delivering the first Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) distinguished personalities lecture series.

The lecture was titled “Experiential learning: Building the wealth of the nation.”

Mbah said Nigeria’s current education model and spending could not deliver the much-needed speedy development and economic transformation.

The governor said there was a need for an urgent paradigm shift from memorisation to experiential learning.

“Why do Nigerian universities seldom feature on the global ranking list of the world’s best universities? Why have they seemed perennially unable to become the ideas factory that universities ought to be? Why are our universities not producing inventive graduates?” he asked.

“The answers to these questions lie in many inconvenient truths, amongst which is the fact that the learning in our schools, from basic to tertiary, has for years not imbued our young people with productive skills and competencies.

“This is a root cause of our underdevelopment.”

Mbah also directed all state-owned tertiary institutions to “deliver experiential learning henceforth”.

“So, we hereby announce as a policy that all state-owned tertiary institutions in Enugu state must henceforth deliver experiential learning to our children,” he said.

“We want to see this change reflected in planning, budget, curriculum reform, assessment, and promotions, as well as research.

“Experiential learning ensures that education is deeply connected to the challenges and opportunities of the real world.

“It fosters critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. It empowers students to see themselves not as passive learners but as active problem-solvers.”