A Nigerian academic based in the United
Kingdom, Prof. Chris Imafidon, has called on the Federal Government to
invest more in the education sector than it is doing for defense.....
Imafidon, who is the founder of the
Excellence in Education Programme at Oxford University in the United
Kingdom, made this call in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Thursday,
while delivering the 33rd Convocation Lecture of the University of
Ilorin.
The lecture was themed, The Genius in You: New tools, Techniques and Technology for Developing Individual and Institutional Greatness.
He said, “In Nigeria we spend more money
on defence than education. We cannot defend an empty house, a
dilapidated house and leave our children and the most valuable asset we
have, which is the brain, desolate. We cannot have paper factories and
call them universities.”
Imafidon described the introduction of
the Tertiary Education Trust Fund as a laudable intervention by the
Federal Government to fund tertiary education in Nigeria.
He, however, hailed the government for
creating TETFUND, while urging the Muhammadu Buhari administration to do
everything possible to upgrade Nigeria’s education system to world
standard.
Imafidon also urged Nobel laureate,
Prof. Wole Soyinka, to leave a lasting legacy for future generations of
Nigerians by assisting the country to produce another winner of the
Nobel Prize in Literature.
“Prof. Wole Soyinka must replicate
himself as a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. We must never
allow any other African country to produce another winner of this
prestigious literary award because we are already far ahead of them. We
must replicate it. Let us bring out the best in our children. If we do
not do this, the shame will be too much on our generation.”
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of
Ilorin, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, said that 89 graduands of the
institution bagged first class degrees, while 1,932 out of 9,018
graduands obtained second class upper degrees. Also, 3,727 graduands
made it in the second class lower division, just as 1,309 bagged third
class degrees and 117 got ordinary pass.
Calling on Nigerians to be committed to
nation building, Abdulkareem said, “Nigeria’s political climate needs
rejuvenation and we are all expected to be part of that process. I want
to admonish us all to be nation builders; I mean nation builders with a
difference.
“We now live in a different world that
is more competitive. In this new world, you cannot cross the sea merely
by standing and staring at the water. You need special uncommon
commonsense in order to make your voyage in the new life you are
entering less difficult and more fulfilling.
“The reality of the new and different world we live in today demands you make extra efforts in order to get life’s fulfillment.”
The Pro-Chancellor, Unilorin, Dr.
Abdullahi Oyekan, also called for greater funding for the university. He
said this had become more imperative as government had declared that it
would be unable to adequately bear the burden of providing funding for
the education sector alone.
He urged the institution to develop skills necessary for gathering funds from far and near.
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