President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assured that the Federal Government under his stewardship is making deliberate efforts at addressing infrastructural challenges in the nation’s ivory towers.
This is as the president also tasked Nigerian universities to ensure demand-driven research to aid industrial growth and development.
Tinubu gave the task at the maiden combined 1st–5th convocation ceremony of Federal University Birnin Kebbi (FUBK), which was held at the institution on Saturday.
He also urged universities to partner with industries to explore outcomes of research to facilitate national development.
Mr Tinubu, who spoke as the Visitor to the university, assured that the federal government was working to make education more accessible to Nigerians.
The President, represented by the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Tanko-Sununu, described education as very important in the life of every individual.
“Recognising this, the federal government is working tirelessly to ensure that education is more accessible to many Nigerians as possible under the favourable policies of government.
“Government is not unaware of infrastructural deficit in the education sector, particularly in the universities. In view of this, deliberate and sincere efforts are being made to address these challenges in order to guarantee the provision of quality education.
“It is in this regard that this administration has increased budgetary allocation to education because of the importance it attached to the sector,” the president said.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Muhammad Zaiyan-Umar, said 3,373 graduands had been awarded with degrees in various fields of endeavours covering the five academic sessions.
“This convocation is the first by the university. It covers the 2017/2018 and 2022/2023 academic sessions, a total of five sessions.
“It brings together 3,373 graduands, who have been found worthy in both character and learning, to receive degree certificates of the university,” he said.
Mr Zaiyan-Umar lamented the unfenced land at the main campus, inadequate transport to university campuses as major challenges faced by the institution.
“The nature of the fence has subjected the university to encroachment by people and animals, and in many places to the stealing of wires by unscrupulous elements.
“The lingering dispute with the host community over part of the land has also been worrisome.
“Any effort to assist in safeguarding the university from potential threat shall be warmly welcomed,” the VC said.
In his speech, the Chancellor of the university, the Obi of Obinugwu, Cletus Ikechukwu, said the university, just like other sister- institutions, had been largely dependent on the federal government in the discharge of its mandate.
“However, it is also a fact that government cannot continue to shoulder all our needs in the face of competing demands on the nation’s scarce resources.
”It is, therefore, incumbent upon all the stakeholders in the educational enterprise to come forward with their contributions. In particular, I call on financially endowed individuals to invest in education at all levels.
“We at the FUBK are available for partnership in all areas of human endeavour,” he said.
Mr Ikechukwu congratulated distinguished personalities who had been listed for the award of honorary degrees of the great university at this ceremony.
The honour, he said, was well-deserved in respect of each one of them for the services they had rendered to humanity.
On his part, the Pro-Chancellor of the university, Ali Abubakar-Jatau, registered his appreciation for the support the university had been receiving from the federal government, governors of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina and Niger States.
The support, he added, had at various occasions supported the university in different forms in times of needs and sometimes voluntarily on their own without requests.
In his remarks, the Governor of Kebbi, Nasir Idris, congratulated the graduands for the achievement they had recorded in their educational pursuance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the university conferred Honorary Doctorate degree on former Governor of Kebbi, Sa’idu Dakingari; Muhammadu Indimi, the founder and Chairman of Oriental Energy Resources Limited and Leo Ekeh, the chairman of Zinox Group and founder of Konga.com as well as Abubakar Sani (Makaman Sokoto).
(NAN)
