Dr. Daere Akobo, the Group Chief Executive Officer of PANA Holdings, has issued a powerful call for Nigerian universities to fundamentally redefine their role in the nation's emerging economy. He challenged institutions to move beyond traditional academic models and become engines of innovation and commercialisation.
A Call for a Fundamental Shift in Academia
Akobo made this urgent appeal on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, while delivering the convocation lecture at the combined 37th and 38th ceremony of Rivers State University (RSU) in Port Harcourt. Addressing a graduating class of 13,242 students, he spoke on the theme “Joint University-Industry Ventures: The Entrepreneurship, Technology, Sustainability and People Nexus for Rivers State University.”
He highlighted Nigeria's critically low innovation output, noting the country averages only two patents per one million people annually. Akobo, an alumnus of RSU, argued that universities must stop merely graduating students based on examinations and start graduating them with intellectual property that holds commercial value. "How can we move from using tests to graduate students to using patents to graduate students?" he posed. "When you have patents, people pay for patents."
The Triple Helix Model and Global Benchmarks
Akobo advocated for the adoption of the "triple helix" model of innovation, which requires close collaboration between universities, industry, and government. He pointed to global institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as benchmarks, where strong economic ecosystems are built on research, patents, and commercialisation.
He urged RSU specifically to evolve into a globally competitive knowledge hub. Using the oil and gas sector as a case study, he lamented that over 750 software packages used in the industry are developed abroad, representing a massive loss of revenue and opportunity for Nigeria. He stressed the need for proprietary software and locally developed technology.
Building Ambition and Enterprise in Rivers State
Akobo also addressed a perceived "mental box" limiting ambition in the Niger Delta region. He directly encouraged graduates and professionals to build their enterprises within Rivers State instead of taking opportunities elsewhere. Sharing lessons from his visit to IIT Madras, he recommended that RSU establish a dedicated technology hub to attract corporate research funding and partnerships.
On entrepreneurial leadership, he outlined his "Five P's" framework: Purpose, Philosophy, Process, Product, and People. He simultaneously warned new graduates against over-reliance on the "three F's"—family, friends, and fools—for funding, stating it often hinders real progress. "A dream without a deadline is a nightmare," he concluded, urging action with urgency.
Akobo further called on the Rivers State Government to strengthen its "directive capacity"—its ability to effectively channel resources towards strategic priorities like innovation-led development. He questioned whether the state currently possesses the necessary governance strength for this task.
The business leader holds postgraduate qualifications from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, and has attended executive programmes at Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and Manchester Business School. He was recently awarded an honorary Doctor of Business Management by Obafemi Awolowo University.
