Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has challenged the nation's universities to leverage on their expertise to develop creative, but legitimate strategies to supplement government's funding of the education sector.
He gave the challenge on Tuesday at the 27th convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria's central north Kwara state where he said government alone could not shoulder the burden.
Jonathan, represented by the Minister of Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, said government recognised its primary responsibility of providing affordable education at all levels.
He said experience the world over had shown that government, no matter the level of commitment and prosperity of it's economy, could not alone shoulder the funding of education.
The president explained that the task of building a great institution could not be done within the tenure of a single leadership.
He commended the institution's Vice-Chancellor for the creativity, vision and courage that he had brought into piloting the affairs of the university
Jonathan urged the university community to seize the moment to further reflect on the enormous responsibilities it shouldered as higher institution of learning noting all the countries that had made progress in recent times had done so because of the quality of their academic institutions.
``The 21st century economy is built and sustained on knowledge. What would set progressing countries apart from the stagnating ones in this century is not their natural resources, but the quality of their human capital.
``Nigeria is one of the few countries still blessed with a huge young population. The youth population will, however, not automatically translate into assets unless we make conscious efforts to develop it.
``Perhaps, more than any other institution, the enormous task lies with you, saddled with the responsibility to teach, research, publish and serve.
``With 117 universities, our country has no reason to lag behind in our quest to match the rest of the world in economic, technological and scientific advancement.
``I must therefore emphasise that our universities must key into our transformation agenda. They should not only show returns on investments, but also by variously and collectively positioning themselves for the task of national transformation across the various sectors of our economy.
``We cannot hope to become and remain one of the 20 leading economies of the world by year 2020 unless our universities are prepared to lead the way.''
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He gave the challenge on Tuesday at the 27th convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria's central north Kwara state where he said government alone could not shoulder the burden.
Jonathan, represented by the Minister of Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, said government recognised its primary responsibility of providing affordable education at all levels.
He said experience the world over had shown that government, no matter the level of commitment and prosperity of it's economy, could not alone shoulder the funding of education.
The president explained that the task of building a great institution could not be done within the tenure of a single leadership.
He commended the institution's Vice-Chancellor for the creativity, vision and courage that he had brought into piloting the affairs of the university
Jonathan urged the university community to seize the moment to further reflect on the enormous responsibilities it shouldered as higher institution of learning noting all the countries that had made progress in recent times had done so because of the quality of their academic institutions.
``The 21st century economy is built and sustained on knowledge. What would set progressing countries apart from the stagnating ones in this century is not their natural resources, but the quality of their human capital.
``Nigeria is one of the few countries still blessed with a huge young population. The youth population will, however, not automatically translate into assets unless we make conscious efforts to develop it.
``Perhaps, more than any other institution, the enormous task lies with you, saddled with the responsibility to teach, research, publish and serve.
``With 117 universities, our country has no reason to lag behind in our quest to match the rest of the world in economic, technological and scientific advancement.
``I must therefore emphasise that our universities must key into our transformation agenda. They should not only show returns on investments, but also by variously and collectively positioning themselves for the task of national transformation across the various sectors of our economy.
``We cannot hope to become and remain one of the 20 leading economies of the world by year 2020 unless our universities are prepared to lead the way.''
Source: NEXT click here to READ MORE
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