COMMUNIQUE

2ND AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION CONFERENCE AND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Preamble

The 2nd African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) Conference and General Assembly hosted by the National Open University of Nigeria was held in Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, Nigeria from 8 – 11 July, 2008.

The theme of the Conference was “Open and Distance Learning for Sustainable Development” while the main objective was to discuss various ways by which the application of distance education policies and systems can contribute to sustainable development.

A total of three hundred and fifty participants attended the conference consisting of top government officials and policy-makers, managers and administrators in the academia, experts and other key stakeholders and practitioners in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in and outside Africa. Development partners and inter-governmental agencies such as UNESCO, the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), and the World Bank were also represented at the Conference. The Conference was declared open by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, GCFR who was ably represented by the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachuku.

The keynote address, which canvassed the need to strengthen ODL as a viable and alternative mode for widening access to education at all levels, was presented by the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO, Ambassador (Professor) Michael Omolewa, CON. The President of Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Sir John Daniel, presented the closing address. Other agencies also presented their goodwill messages to the Conference.more(PDF)