th ISSN 0795-3089 10 October, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 40 -Prof. Rasheed Advocates For Triple Helix Approach L-R: Academy Provost, Prof. A.S. Nwankwo; Executive Secretary, NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed; Commandant, Nigerian Defence Academy, Major-General M.T Ibrahim and the Guest of Honour, Major-General Paul Tarfa (rtd.) he Executive Secretary knowledge and competencies to Approach’, Professor Rasheed National Universities reform government institutions said that strengthening higher TCommission (NUC), Prof. and attract recognition as well as education to drive a structural Abubakar Rasheed, has said that respect of the private sector. shift in the country demanded the structure, infrastructure and active support of critical capacity of Nigerian Higher Delivering the 15th convocation stakeholders in the sector and Education Institutions (HEIs) lecture of the Nigerian Defence renewed vision on the part of needed to be consistently upgraded Academy (NDA) titled, ‘Nigerian’s government to broadly conceive to attain world-class status and Quest for Knowledge-Based of a transition to knowledge- enable the citizen to acquire Economy: A Triple Helix based economy, which would lead Prof. Rasheed Briefs Senate Quality Assurance Produce More Entrepreneurs, Page Page Page Committee on Budget Conference Endorses Obasanjo Tells Varsities No. 6 No. 9 No. 10 Performance Africa Union Agenda 2063 10th October, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 40 which define our times. Countries such as Singapore, with no known natural resources, are today in the league of big nations. Singapore is today a leader in many respects, thanks to its huge, consistent and continuous investment in education. It is therefore clear that education induces ideas and charges imagination and creativity which are actually responsible for the radical changes encapsulated in today's world. Maj. Gen. Ibrahim, Prof. Rasheed and Chairman, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu Nigerian HEIs are expected to be in a strategic position to pave the to greater prospects of changing way for the country's transition Nigeria's fortune. into the knowledge age. In this There is no doubt, petroleum process, government leadership is The NUC scribe said that, “as a resource and the revenues derivable critical in ensuring effective nation, we must build a concern to from it will continue to play a p o l i c y f r a m e w o r k s a n d start building empires of the mind. significant role in Nigeria's implementation mechanisms to We can only ignore this at our own economy – even with the decreased guide towards the creation and peril.” pricing of the commodity. sustenance of a critical mass of w o r l d c l a s s e d u c a t i o n a l Professor Rasheed cited studies The point, however, is that the institutions capable of generating that established the relationship world is gravitating towards the relevant knowledge required by between the provision of quality supremacy of ideas, of knowledge the industry and the society at and relevant education and the as opposed to the dominance of large. transition toward a knowledge natural resources. Ideas and the driven world, adding that “Nigeria power of imagination are actually Similar frameworks are also as a country or any part of Nigeria responsible for the changes needed to allow unhindered flow as a geopolitical entity can fully encapsulated in globalization, of knowledge between research join the developed world if it digitization and interconnectedness institutions and the industry in a chooses to educate its population” and “in the process, create a knowledge-based economy.” According to him, the future belong to those countries or communities that invest heavily on the future, to build empires of the mind. It also belongs to those countries and populations who “ignore the temptation of – or do not have the option of – exploiting natural resources” like petroleum, in our case, or gold. It belongs to those countries and populations that invest heavily in the Prof. Rasheed, delivering the Convocation Lecture production of knowledge. MONDAY BULLETIN A Publication of The Office of The Page 2 Executive Secretary 10th October, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 40 manner that produces multiple orienting (Nigerian) universities have no capacity for absorbing benefits. towards entrepreneurial roles. This Research & Development (R&D) is mainly due to the long tradition and the foreign subsidiaries relied Explaining the concept of triple o f o v e r - d e p e n d e n c e o n on their mother corporations for Helix project, Professor Rasheed government for funding and R&D (Munyoki, et al, 2011). said that it was clear that direction. Also, most publications These coupled with the lack of Universities, Industry and e m a n a t i n g f r o m N i g e r i a n comprehensive and focused Government (Triple Helix) universities have limited enterprise policy initiatives to support possess certain capabilities which functionality as they were mainly university-industry collaborations they could effectively and conceived and conducted for tend to compromise the journey of collaboratively deploy while academic purposes. many developing countries maintaining their primary roles towards the creation of a true and distinct identities. This tends to make universities' knowledge economy. research outputs unattractive to the World over, the transition towards private sector and policy makers. In practical sense, government the knowledge-based economy is Even where functional research plays a key role in driving p r o p e l l e d b y a d y n a m i c outputs exist, the weakness in academia and industry to create connectivity among Triple Helix c o m m u n i c a t i o n b e t w e e n and deploy knowledge effectively with each sphere of so as to move the triad gaining as a t o w a r d s t h e result of more knowledge age. i n t e r a c t i o n , collaboration and In realisation of support in other the centrality of spheres. In this education in process, specialized Nigeria's new firms capable of e c o n o m i c utilizing research dynamics, for output are created example, the a n d s t r o n g T e r t i a r y intellectual property Education Trust right protection is F u n d w a s instituted. Thus, the L-R: Prof. Rasheed, NDA Director, Academic Planning, Colonel S. S. Ibrahim and established to Director, Information and Public Relations, NUC, Ibrahim Usman Yakasai Triple Helix is a tool support HEIs in for well-informed universities, industry and producing stock policy formulation to foster g o v e r n m e n t c a u s e d m a n y of knowledge required for the growth and innovation. innovations and technology to development of the country. It is remain underdeveloped inside expected that sound education and Triple Helix is not simply an universities. Over the years, this training can speed- up the Triple academic concept but a building has whittled down collaborations Helix interaction as relevant block of every day innovation between Nigerian HEIs and c a p a c i t y i s b u i l t a c r o s s policy and practices. In developed industry to simple and often government and industry sectors. societies and emerging markets, unstructured transactional Besides its traditional roles, governments are deliberately relationship in the form of government has a unique embarking on policies that favour consultancies and grants. At the responsibility in directing the transfer of knowledge and industry level, there is a paucity of technology between universities r e s o u r c e s t o w a r d s b e t t e r h i g h - t e c h i n d u s t r i e s understanding of the Triple Helix and organization aiming to solve to support innovation and general social or economic problems. interaction and the modalities of lack of invention culture in many collaboration to ensure the developing countries (Berry and Generally, there is lack of an evolution of long lasting Sawyer, 2008). More worrisome is partnerships that would eventually enabling environment for re- that local, small and medium firms MONDAY BULLETIN A Publication of The Office of The Page 3 Executive Secretary 10th October, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 40 Public funds still remain critical provide solutions to the socio given that the governments of most problems which may not economic challenges currently Asian countries support their necessarily require complex faced by the country. innovation process (Cai, 2013). technological solutions, All these The use of public funds to reduce make the nation's HEIs system A well-informed political process r i s k o f n e w t e c h n o l o g y really functional and relevant. for resource allocation is the key to development in critical sectors supporting entrepreneurial have long been recognised This paper concurs with the development of technology. The (Etzkowitx, 2002). HEIs are today previous studies that established weaknesses in communication and the hubs of business/technology the relationship between the lack of active engagement among i n c u b a t i o n , a s w e l l a s provision of quality and relevant the HEIs, industry and the business/technology acceleration, education and the transition government can be bridged with and play a key role In creating towards a knowledge-driven enhanced capacity development science and technology parks.