Nigeria’s education must prepare youths for knowledge-driven economy —FG

THE Federal Government has said that Nigeria education must prepare and arm Nigeria’s youths to take competitive advantage of the 21st century knowledge-driven economy within and outside the country.

Government has also tasked the newly created Chartered Institute of Treasury Management (CITM), to come up with measures to tackle corruption and leakages of resources in agencies including the Single Treasury Account (TSA).

Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, gave the charge while inaugurating the pioneer council of the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management in Abuja.

“We all agreed to the fact that Nigeria education must prepare and arm Nigeria’s youths to take competitive advantage of the 21st century knowledge-driven economy within and outside the country. I believe that the operations of this institute will help us achieve this target,” he said.

He noted that the institute is particularly important to the education sector because it would help ensure that finances allocated to the sector by government, the civil society and non-governmental organisations will be judiciously utilised for the achievement of the Ministry’s three focal areas of Access, Quality and Systems Strengthening.

Opiah noted that the institute would not only ensure better services from banks and proper allocation of funds, fraud and embezzlement would also be minimised.

He urged members of the institute to contribute and work towards a sustainable economy.

“Treasury management is a ‘must be’ for any nation that targets sustainable development because it is a strategic approach to optimising beneficial returns of innovative deployment of both public and private finance.

“In addition, treasury management helps to put in place preventive mechanisms to safeguard resources and ensure that there is value for money.

“I am very confident that the benefits and impacts of the establishment of this institute will be positive on our society and the Nigerian economy when fully operational,” he said.

On some of the benefits of the institute, the Minister said: “Supervision and management of cash flows and its balances will be better managed and utilised; there would be better services from banks, proper allocation of funds will be achieved, while fraud and embezzlement would be minimised.

“We all know that with the above mentioned benefits, the economy will function better with adequate financial resources appropriately allocated and disbursed.”