The Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof Adamu Ahmed, has acknowledged the tremendous support of UNESCO-ICHEI to the institution in the area of digital education.
Prof Ahmed said the global agency and its flagship International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) had been supporting the university since 2019.
The support started when UNESCO-ICHEI and ABU signed an MoU on 23rd May, 2019 and thereafter the university became IIOE’s pioneer founding member on 7th December, 2019.
Ahmed spoke during the ABU team visit to the UNESCO-ICHEI/IIOE office at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in China on Tuesday, 2nd June, 2026.
A statement from the public affairs directorate office of the VC said the visit was part of his official engagements with partners and friends of the university in Guangzhou and Shengzen areas of China.
The Vice-Chancellor listed the huge support of the UNESCO-ICHEI to ABU that included the donation of CreateView Smart Classroom, Yanshee robot with UBTech, VR licences and K1-200 All-in-One VR desktop system with KMAX.
They also included collaboration on the funding of IIOE in 2019, 2022 national project that led to the development of the ABU teaching and learning policy (TLP) as well as its implementation strategy document, according to him.
Others, he further disclosed, were several capacity building workshops and trainings, co-creation of micro-courses (A3 & T1) and the first fully domestication of micro-course on the IIOE platform (B1).
He listed others such as partnership in hosting the 2024 national dialogue on the development of a consensus framework for the use of AI in the Nigerian higher education system, and, most recently, the ongoing project on Women Leading Change in Africa (WLCA).
The Vice-Chancellor, who thanked the organization for the warm reception accorded them, congratulated the UNESCO-ICHEI on its 10th anniversary.
Receiving the team, the Deputy Director, UNESCO-ICHEI, Ms. Bi Xiaohan, expressed gratitude to the team for the visit.
Ms. Bi received the team along with other top officials of the global body.
She said they cherished the partnership with ABU and IIOE Nigeria National Centre and looked forward to many more years of cooperation and collaboration.
Ms. Bi also spoke on the impact of the ongoing WLCA project based on the field data and the positive deliberations on the forthcoming project on cross-border e-commerce with the IIOE Nigeria National Centre and the ABU Business School.
The UNESCO-ICHEI Deputy Director told the Vice-Chancellor that a team from UNESCO-ICHEI would likely visit ABU, Zaria in September, 2026.
Chief of the Global Partnership and Programme Office (GPPO), Mr. Sit Fung, had made a presentation on the general outlook for the IIOE and the expected next steps for the collaboration with ABU and the IIOE Nigeria National Centre.
The Vice-Chancellor was in company of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof Raymond B Bako.
Other team members were the Director, Distance Learning Centre, Prof Muhammed Bashir Mu’azu and the Director, IAIICT, Prof Emmanuel Adewale Adedokun.
