Victor EzejaChairman and CEO of Geometric Power, Professor Bart Nnaji, has said that without prioritising Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in Nigeria, the country can’t achieve the rapid development it seeks.
Professor Nnaji urged the Nigerian government and the citizens to learn from the experiences of advanced Asian countries like China and Vietnam, who adopted STEM as part of their mainstream national education strategy for industrial and economic development within the last three decades.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelNnaji made the call when he spoke at the inauguration of Engr PIC Chukwuma as Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Enugu branch on Saturday, 22 February 2025.
Speaking on the topic “Engineering Leadership for Sustainable Development in Nigeria,” Nnaji a former Minister of Power and Science and Technology, emphasised that engineering plays a very crucial role in national development, hence the need for Nigeria to make it be at the centre of national culture.
“The Nigerian people and government should learn from the experiences of countries like China and Vietnam. Without prioritizing STEM, rapid development will be near impossible,” NNaji stated.
“For sustainable development in Nigeria, engineering should be at the centre of our culture. Engineers have to be at the centre of national affairs. This is the most important lesson from the dazzling development of countries like China and Vietnam.”
The Professor of Engineering noted that China was able to achieve what he described as “greatest development miracle of the last few decade”, emerging the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, due to its advancement in engineering.
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“China has become the greatest development miracle of the last few decades. From being one of the several poor nations in the 1980s, it has emerged as the world’s second-largest economy.”
He said China lifted over 700 million people out of poverty during this period of its transformation, adding that if it continues along the present development trajectory, it would overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy sooner than most people think.
“Take a look at its answer to the generative AI (AGI). It (China) developed Deep Seek with a mere $5.6m whereas Apple, Google, and other Big Tech firms have been spending several billions of dollars on AGI. It is also marvelous that China was able to develop the large language model (LLM) despite Washington’s strong restriction of exports of advanced chips to it so that it could not create its own Nvidia.”
He said many factor accounted for China’s unprecedented development in the last few decades but the one that is rarely talked about is “the preeminence of engineering in particular and science in general in the national scheme of things.”
The international scholar and technocrat observed that China’s last three presidents trained as engineers. “The current president, Xi Jinping, has a degree in chemical engineering. His predecessor, Hu Jintao, studied mechanical engineering, specializing in hydraulic engineering. Hu’s predecessor, Jiang Zemin, obtained a degree in electrical and electronics engineering.
“Whether they became professional engineers through practice is another question, but their basic engineering backgrounds prepared them to solve problems creatively and imaginatively. Engineers do it better!” Nnaji stated.
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Stressing further the importance of engineering in national development, he said it produces critical thinkers, experts who apply scientific knowledge to solve problems.
“China has been choosing engineers to lead them because engineers are professionals trained to combine theory and practice, and not to embrace one at the expense of the other.
“In engineering, theory informs practice, and practice, in turn, informs theory. Chinese leaders have been grappling with their country’s development challenges with wisdom, knowledge, and deep understanding,” he added.
While emphasising the need for Nigeria to draw lessons from the approach adopted by China and others, for development, Nnaji stated that Vietnam, a neigbhouring country which became enamored by China’s “meteoric rise”, has been taking far-reaching steps to become another Asian Tiger. “It emphasizes Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. The result has been stunning. Vietnam has been developing rapidly.”
Speaking on manpower development, Nnaji stated that even as Vietnam is developing fast, producing 92,000 STEM talents annually from its 400 higher institutions, which include 200 universities, they have proved “grossly inadequate for its manpower needs. This is a huge lesson to Nigeria and other African countries.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
