Ernest Ndukwe, Olu Jegede, Neil Fassina, others to speak at colloquium on distance and e-learning

The Chairman of MTN Nigeria, Dr Ernest Ndukwe will headline an international colloquium on distance education and e-learning to be held at the University of Lagos, Nigeria on Thursday, September 16, 2021.

Sponsored by MTN Nigeria and organised by the Distance Learning Institute, UNILAG, the colloquium will also to have speakers from Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa and Nigeria. 

Themed ‘Recalibrating Open Distance Education and E-Learning for Resilient and Inclusive Education’, Dr Neil Fassina, President, International Council of Distance Education (ICDE) will deliver the keynote address while Emeritus Professor Olu Jegede, Prof. Moeketsi Letseka, and Dr. Akanimo Odon will join him as discussants.

Neil Fassina is the current President of Athabasca University. Before taking on this role, he was Provost and Vice-President Academic at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management. 

Olugbemiro Jegede is the first Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria. He has also served as the Secretary to the Kogi State Government as well as the Secretary-General and Chief Executive of the Association of African Universities, a position he assumed on December 1, 2010, after a successful tenure in Nigeria on a special assignment in Higher Education.

Moeketsi Letseka is a professor of philosophy of education, and the holder of the endowed UNESCO Chair on Open Distance Learning at Unisa. He is a professor of philosophy of education and Editor-in-Chief of Africa Education Review, a scholarly journal that is jointly published by Unisa Press and Taylor & Francis in the United Kingdom (UK). Prof Letseka has published extensively in the areas of philosophy of education, higher education and open distance learning. 

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Akanimo Odon is an international business and strategy development expert from Nigeria. He specializes in education and training, energy and environment, oil and gas, media, charities and government. He is currently the Africa Strategy Adviser, Lancaster University, United Kingdom. 

These speakers are expected to bring their wealth of experience to the fore as they speak on repositioning open distance education and e-learning for resilience and inclusiveness. The Colloquium will be held in a hybrid mode to allow participants that are unable to physically attend, join virtually.

MTN’s sponsorship of the colloquium ties with its vision of leading the delivery of a bold new digital world.

In June 2020, MTN Nigeria commenced a free data offer enabling primary and secondary school students to access educational content. The intervention was done in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, allowing primary and secondary school students access to virtual lessons and exam prep.