National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
Vice Chancellor of KolaDaisi University, Ibadan, Professor Adeniyi I. Olatunbosun has advised the Nigerian government to increase its investment in education and provide enabling environment for the sector. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria gave the advice during the university’s recent matriculation ceremony when the institution matriculated 253 students into its various programmes. The matriculation exercise involved 100 Level students admitted through the UTME/Direct Entry. Other students also came in on transfer from various universities. A total of 93 students were admitted into the Faculty of Applied Sciences while Arts, Management, Social Science admitted 110 students and the Faculty of Law admitted 50 students. DAYO EMMANUEL was at the ceremony and here reports.
Vice Chancellor of KolaDaisi University, Ibadan, Professor Adeniyi I. Olatunbosun (SAN), has congratulated the recently admitted students, advising them to be focused and law abiding during their stay on the campus.
“Choosing KolaDaisi University, Ibadan is one of the wisest decisions you have made. You are, however, advised to be focused. Be mindful of the type of associations you make, you must ensure regular attendance at lectures and other areas of discipline to make a success of your studentship,” he advised.
Advising further, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said, “You must be determined not to be derailed or distracted on your journey to success here at KolaDaisi University. Endeavor to make the students’ Information/Regulation Handbook your companion by reading it regularly and carefully, to be familiar with its contents and thereby maximise the advantage of your studentship.”
He warned that, “Not complying with the rules attract punitive sanctions ranging from reprimand to expulsion from the university. It is pertinent that you abide by all the rules and regulations of the university, as ignorance will not be taken as an excuse for any form of misconduct.”
Fielding questions from journalists after the event, Olatunbosun explained various issues relating to the university, security, brain drain, government’s attitude to education in Nigeria, 2023 general elections and sundry issues.
Security of students and staffers
We have relative standard of security for our students and staff, we also have constant and working relationship with all the security agencies; the Nigerian Police, Amotekun, Civil Defence and the other recognised law enforcement agencies and we are working with them in that regard.
Students seeking admissions abroad
Like I said and also from the lecture delivered at the matriculation, the university system is a universal concept, so students are being taught in accordance with international standard and best practices. We just had two sets of students we have produced from our university and some of them are already taking up their master’s programs abroad and with the level of their performance, it qualifies them for the admission over there because when a student applies for studies abroad, they will look at the transcripts of the applicants and they subject them to assessment. So by and large, the university standard cannot be compromised by any standard. We ensure that we keep to standard expected of us and we are also exposing our students to other international certification so they can be employable and can also be relevant.
The point I am trying to make is for our government to know that education is a big issue. The United Kingdom relies extensively on the proceeds from tuition fees. About 1.3bn Pounds are being realised yearly from foreign students’ enrolment in their universities. There are prospective students we lose to them.
I also want to say that there is the need for the government to realise that education is an investment which if the government is so sincere about it and put enabling environment in place because of the strength of our youths, Nigeria is actually going to make a lot of money from it because when you invest in a child or an adult, the after effect of that is that it is going to transform our economy but because of the economic situation and because of the government’s act of non-compliant or nonchalant toward ensuring that we have enabling environment for our students.
Nigerian government should support education
Many of Nigerian youths are now moving out of the country at a very alarming rate and I think government needs to do a lot to put up an enabling environment for them to be able to be relevant in our society because at the end of the day, most of what we need to do depends on how far we have been able to do that. By and large, we need to ensure that we support the educational sector. The government needs to see that education is a tangible property, we cannot quantify education in terms of naira and kobo. What is important is that our government needs to appreciate the collective efforts of our lecturers in our universities so that our country can develop. You cannot develop your country if you don’t have a pool of intellectuals that have been trained to meet the socio-economic challenges of the country. What that means is that the government needs to do more and put in place necessary apparatus and the earlier we do that, the better. In the UK and the USA, a lot of professionals who are trained in Nigerians are doing exploits over there, a lot of medical doctors pharmacists, lawyers engineers, even computer experts are making giant strides overseas because the government at our level here do not understand, cannot appreciate the level of their relevance in our economy so there is the need for the government to have a redirection of their priorities. Nigerian government focuses more on politics than education and it is better for us to direct our attention towards building, to focus our attention on building our educational sector if we really want to have a substantial growth in our economy.
Government should allow private universities enjoy policies and benefits of TETFUND
I think it is because of the fact that we over concentrate on federal institutions as appropriate avenue. What is important is that TETFUND is an arrangement that is meant to satisfy all spheres of federal, state and private universities and at the committee of the Vice Chancellors and Registrars of Nigerian Universities, there is the need for the government through TETFUND to also allow the private universities to enjoy the policies and benefits of TETFUND. Even the government needs to support private universities, apart from TETFUND, the government needs to provide other forms of support, it may be in terms of bond or other forms of financial supports because we are also solving problems towards developing human beings and also building human capacity. Private universities are also parts of Nigeria, also paying taxes, we contribute to the growth and development. Private universities even pay more taxes. Lots of our activities are subjected to various forms of taxations, so there is the need to support and give back towards ensuring that private universities are also given opportunities to explore the potentials and other things that accrue to them towards developing the nation.
No record of cultism
Social vices extend to every segment of human beings, that is why there is the need to warn our students to stay away from anything that can stain their identities and personalities. It is not as if we have any record of cultism here but we are also being proactive as an institution ensuring we do the best for our students in that regard and to also let them know that ignorance of law is not an excuse and if anybody is caught in any misconduct he or she will face disciplinary measures.
2023 general elections
This is a university, it is not a political environment, we have a calendar, our calendar has taken care of the timetable and I think before the election starts, we would have completed the first semester. The students would have gone to their various families before the time for the election.
