Bsc in Computer science (ATBU)
Msc in Computer science (ATBU),
MBA in Technology management (ATBU)
PhD in oil & gas computing (Cambridge UK),
Digital transformation (Harvard),
Strategic innovation (US)
Management (UK)
Former DG NITDA
Led Minister of Communication and Digital Economy
And above all, he memorizes the entire Holy Quran.
Gombe fa Alhamdulillahi
Fwd as received
*Professor Idris Bugaje wrote:*
A strange thing is happening in Nigeria.
A young man spends 20 years climbing the educational ladder.
6 years in primary school.
6 years in secondary school.
4 to 6 years in university.
1 year of NYSC.
By the time he is done, he has invested roughly 6,500 to 7,000 days preparing for life.
Then life arrives and asks a simple question:
“What problem can you solve?”
Silence.
Not because he is unintelligent.
Not because he is lazy.
But because somewhere along the journey, we confused education with certification.
We taught people how to pass exams, not how to create value.
Think about it.
An electrician who never attended university can walk into a building worth N500 million and confidently power every room from the foundation to the penthouse.
A graduate with multiple certificates may stand beside him unable to identify which wire powers the building.
One has credentials.
The other has capability.
The market pays for capability.
That is why reality often delivers a rude mathematical lesson.
If a graduate earns N100,000 monthly, that is N1.2 million annually.
A skilled technician charging N40,000 per job and handling just two jobs weekly earns over N4 million yearly.
Same country.
Different skills.
Different outcomes.
The tragedy is not that one earns more than the other.
The tragedy is that we keep preparing millions of young people for a race that no longer exists.
We celebrate admission lists like victory trophies.
We celebrate graduation photos like guaranteed employment letters.
Then we act surprised when hundreds of applicants compete for one vacancy.
Imagine 1,000 people chasing 10 jobs.
Basic mathematics says 990 people will be disappointed.
No motivational speaker can negotiate with arithmetic.
Yet we continue producing graduates faster than we produce opportunities.
That is like manufacturing keys without building doors.
The painful irony?
The people we once looked down on are increasingly becoming the people we depend on.
When your transformer fails at midnight, you do not call a philosophy graduate.
When your water stops running, you do not search for a political scientist.
When your air conditioner breaks in April heat, theory suddenly becomes less important than technical competence.
The economy has a brutal honesty.
It rewards usefulness more than status.
Nations that understood this long ago built prosperity differently.
They stopped asking only, “How many graduates do we have?”
They started asking, “How many builders, technicians, machinists, coders, welders, mechanics and innovators can we produce?”
There is dignity in intellectual work.
There is dignity in skilled labour.
The mistake is ranking one above the other.
A society that worships certificates while neglecting competence eventually discovers that framed documents cannot build roads, repair machines, wire factories, manufacture products or create wealth.
The future belongs to people who can solve problems.
Whether they learned it in a lecture hall, a workshop, an apprenticeship centre or under a mango tree is secondary.
Because at the end of the day, the market does not award marks.
It awards value.
And value has never asked to see anybody’s certificate before writing the cheque.
May Nigeria win 🇳🇬🇳🇬
Engr Prof IM Bugaje
Executive Secretary,
National Board for Technical Education (NBTE)
Ashura is approaching.
And if I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this:
Do not waste this day asking Allah for small things. This is the day that witnessed an ocean split.
Here are some du’as to carry into this blessed day
You will not see him trending.
Nigerian young man named Yelwa secured the First Place at an International Qur’anic Competition in Saudi Arabia.
Dadai leaking yayi ko wani abun banzan.
AT AGE 12, HE MEMORIZED THE ENTIRE QUR'AN... AT AGE 13, HE STARTED SUPPORTING HIS FATHER
He said:
“I memorized the Holy Qur'an when I was 12 years old.”
But he did not stop there.
He also said:
“At the age of 13, I began contributing to my father's livelihood.”
This is not a small achievement.
It reminds us that success does not begin on the day people see someone on a stage or in the spotlight.
Success begins on the day a person chooses patience. On the day they choose knowledge over distraction. On the day they choose the Qur'an over things that do not benefit them.
Today, people see the honor and recognition.
But not everyone sees the years spent repeating verse after verse. Not everyone sees the sacrifices made to memorize the Qur'an. Not everyone sees the prayers of parents behind the success.
A Lesson for Young People
Do not say you are too young. Do not say your time has not come. Do not say you will start later.
Some people began their journey in childhood, and Allah elevated them when the right time came.
One day, you will be asked:
What did you do with your youth?
Some will say they spent it on play and entertainment. Others will say they spent it on things that brought no lasting benefit.
But some will proudly say:
“We devoted it to the Qur'an.”
🤲 O Allah, make our children among those who serve and uphold the Qur'an.
🤲 O Allah, bless our youth with deeds that will benefit us in this life and the Hereafter.
🤲 O Allah, elevate us through the Qur'an.
Ameen, Ya Rabbal ‘Alameen.
Religion is sincere advice.
Addinu Annasiha.
I ask Allah for 1 million dollars, He may not give me 1 million dollars, but may save me from situations that would cost me 1 million dollars.
And that's just basics of his hidden blessings.
Allah’s plan > My plan.
Imagine you are a Muslim and your child asks you: Why do we pray Dhuhr and Asr silently while we recite aloud in Maghrib and Isha?
(And you don't know the answer)
Normalize being a boring Muslim. Go to bed after Isha. Wake before Fajr. Sit with Qur'an to understand. Take dhikr walks. Your life doesn't have to be loud to have barakah. Sometimes the magic is in being unreachable. In becoming the Muslim nobody can disturb.
Ya Allah, if I was ever meant to marry, I ask You to let it be with someone who truly understands the meaning of marriage in Islam. Someone who sees it not just as a contract/bond but as an act of worship. Let it be someone kind, someone who leads me closer to You. A man who will guide me with wisdom, provide responsibility, and protect me with both strength and softness.
I’ve never feared marrying late. That was never the worry. What I’ve always prayed for is not to marry the wrong person. Because timing doesn’t scare me, being tied to someone who doesn’t align with my soul and my deen does.
If love is truly worth it, then let it come in peace. Let it arrive when I’m most prepared to receive it. I’m not rushing nor chasing. I’m still in the process of becoming. I want to grow into the version of myself that’s ready to be a wife, not just in name but in my heart and in faith.
So if it’s written for me, let it come softly, at the right time. A quiet arrival. A calm kind of love. Nothing forced. Just something that fits, with grace, with ease, and with barakah. Ameen.