President Goodluck Jonathan has charged Nigerian universities to key into the transformation agenda of the federal government.
Jonathan gave the charge yesterday in his address at the 27th convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin.
He said with 117 universities, there should be no reason for Nigeria to lag behind in science and technology development.
Noting that the 21st century economy is built on quality education, the visitor to the university enjoined the nation’s universities “to make conscious efforts to turn the enormous youth population we are endowed with to assets for the country.”
Jonathan whose address was read by minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi further challenged universities to also participate in moulding the character of their students.
He said, “We have a lot more to do in molding the character of our students: obtaining certificates by the students is not enough.”
Jonathan noted that government alone could not shoulder the funding of education, and advised the universities to device other means of funding to supplement government’s efforts.
He praised the management of UNILORIN for being the only federal university that has maintained an unbroken academic calendar for over 10 years.
In his address, the Vice chancellor of UNILORIN, Prof Ish-aq Oloyede, said the institution has been effectively positioned as a research university along with its pre-eminence in teaching and community service, saying that this was evident in the published annual report of the institution, which had been handed over to the President.
Oloyede added that, apart from pioneering the computer based test method for the screening of admission candidate, and its students, the university has maintained an uninterrupted academic calendar that had paid off in the quality of staff and students.
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