Fred Ezeh and Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja 
The Federal Government has admitted that Nigeria’s education system would be ineffective and less impactful if it fails to tap into the potentials of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for teaching and learning. 
The government said that ICT has obviously redefined activities in virtually all sectors of global economy including health, commerce, security, education and other areas, insisting that Nigeria cannot afford to operate in isolation, hence the launch of a National Policy on ICT in Education.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who launched the document in Abuja, on Monday, said the exercise marked the end of  a journey that began in 2010 and the beginning of the implementation of the content of the document.
Adamu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Sonny Echono, was confident that content of the document would provide the needed guidance on expectations for stakeholders in process of ICT integration in Nigeria’s education system.
He charged the implementing parties to comply with the recommended guidelines to ensure speedy transformation of teaching, learning, research and administration so that graduates at all levels could be equipped with ICT toolkits for global relevance.
He highlighted the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) which interconnected 37 universities with hub at National Universities Commission (NUC), Computer Based Test (CBT), Open and Distance Learning system, as some of the major achievements in Nigeria’s education system that was made possible by ICT.
He, thus encouraged all stakeholders in Nigeria’s education sector to consider an ICT enhanced education as top priority for the actualisation of national security and other goals.
Before the launch of the policy document, Director of ICT in the Federal Ministry of Education, Uwem Asomugha, made an overview presentation of content of the document.
She confirmed that the final policy document had contributions of all stakeholders, with optimism that proper implementation of content of the documents would herald unprecedented transformation in Nigeria’s education system.
She disclosed that the journey for the document started in 2010, but suffered delay due to paucity of fund, and absence of inputs from relevant stakeholders.