Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday night in Lagos
declared that the government alone cannot sustain funding of universities or
even keep them at their current levels due to its dwindling revenue.
He made
the remark at the “2017 Distinguished Alumni Awards and Celebration of UNILAG
at 55’’ organized by the Alumni Association of the University of Lagos and
harped on public-private collaboration on university funding. Osinbajo
collaborated the views of Dr Wale Babalakin, the Chairman of Council and
Pro-Chancellor of the University. “We must ensure that we continue in the great
traditions of the University of Lagos. “This is why I am so excited to see a
lot of very committed alumni who want to see to it that our university grows
from glory to glory. “And it is important that we do so because just as the pro
chancellor pointed out, government cannot support the universities to the
extent that is required, or to keep them even at the current levels. “A lot
will have to come from the alumni and the private sector. “That is how great
universities all over the world are run. “And I am excited to see that our
project today, the fund raising project, is one that has clearly shown the way
to go with respect to developing our universities,’’ Osinbajo added. The Vice
President acknowledged that the event was a special occasion for him “and I was
determined to stay till the very end. “Because it is not often that one gets a
chance to enjoy the company of many who have either been colleagues or seniors
in the same university. “And in any event it is not often that one gets to
celebrate the 55th anniversary of a great institution. “I want to say that
UNILAG has proved time and time again to be not just a university of first
choice but also the university of `firsts’; so many firsts in so many different
areas.’’ He said it was great to find that one of the awardees, Dr Daniel
Olukoya, the Pastor and Founder of the Mountain of Fire Miracles Ministry, was
the first to clone genes. “That was absolutely an outstanding thing. “The
Pastor and Founder of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, (Pastor Enoch
Adeboye) was also the first Nigerian to get a PHD in a Nigerian University in
Applied Maths and Engineering. “And I think that there are so many other firsts
but I know that the most important thing for us today is to ensure that those
firsts do not become the last.’’ Osinbajo congratulated the awardees because
their achievements were worthy of celebration and such had indeed emanated from
a great institution. “I would like to thank everyone, for those of us who have
managed to stay to the very end and to hope that when we celebrate our 60th you
will all be here. “And we will all be here to celebrate the 70th and 80th and
100th as well for the young ones amongst us,’’ he stated. The Vice Chancellor
of UNILAG, Prof. Rahmon Bello, who bagged an honorary award, noted that the
University’s landmark called for celebration as many graduates had passed
through UNILAG in 55 years. According to him in the past five years he has been
VC more than 285,000 graduated with half of that number having Post Graduate
(PG) degrees. The retiring VC said UNILAG had a student population of 58,000
but faced the highest challenge of accommodation as only 8,000 bed spaces existed.
“Efforts need to be increased for accommodation of graduates and PG students,’’
he said and thanked the Alumni Association for embarking on a new 500-bed
hostel. Bello noted that the university was a leading one in the country but
needed to catch up with other institutions in the continent and the globe.
Accordingly, he said the expectation was for the government to allow
alternative sources of funding for higher institutions. Babalakin had earlier
observed that the university system in the country was on a cross road as no
Nigerian university was rated among the 80th best in the world. “We have to
change the structure of our universities to give them the impetus to do more,’’
he said, adding that even the cost of training per student was very high. “The
estimated cost of training an undergraduate is about N1.2 million per annum.
UNILAG will require about N64 billion yearly to run while about N1.3 trillion
is required by the FG to run universities per annum. “The fund cannot be
provided by the FG alone and we have to devise creative ways to fund the
universities,’’ he added. The Alumni President, Dr Sunny Kuku, in a welcome
address said the awards took cognizance of those who contributed to the growth
of the university in the past. Kuku added that the fund raising targeting N3
billion was to build a new hostel for N2 billion, assist faculty development
and provide infrastructure in the Alumni secretariat. Newsmen report that the
award recipients included Dr John Abebe of Inducon Group; Mr Mustafa Chike-Obi,
former MD of AMCON; Sen. Ndoma Egba, Chairman of NDDC; and Rep. Femi
Gbajabiamila. Others were Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of the Civil Service of
the Federation; Mr Godwin Obla, a legal luminary; Mr Mutiu Sunmonu, former MD
of SPDC; while Mr Oluwaseun Badejo bagged the long service award.
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