The Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Students Engagement, Comrade Sunday Asefon, at the weekend, visited the Federal University Dutsen Ma (FUDMA) in Katsina State where he met with the management of the institution and attended the matriculation ceremony of new 500 students.
Asefon was also at FUDMA to foster Gender Education, Engagement, Empowerment & Entrepreneurship Program (G4EP), a brainchild of his office, under the chairmanship of Hon. Judith Ogbara.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Armaya’u Bichi, and the management team, were taken by surprise with Asefon’s visit because the institution had not been able to receive any visitor due to the fear of insecurity occasioned by banditry around the university’s host community and local government area of Dutse Ma in Katsina State for some time.
They expressed gratitude for Asefon’s bravery and commitment to establish a new narrative for guests and visitors to the University with his visit.
Speaking on the visit, the presidential aide said he had a productive meeting with FUDMA’s management team before he and his team proceeded to the University Center for Gender Studies, one of the major highlights of the visit, aimed for partnership and the execution of the GEEEEP project.
He also promised to take the security plight of the institution to President Tinubu for solution in order to relocate it from the current takeoff site to its sprawling permanent site given the increase in students population.
“We were conducted around major facilities including the Library, ICT Center, and a newly completed Lecture Theatre and office spaces designated to be named after myself in the takeoff site where the University has moved all her students to since the deteriorating security situation in the main campus following bandit attacks within the axis.
“We proceeded to the main campus also to assess the situation so as to get insight into the situation for possible Federal Government’s action. It was a marvellous experience.
“I inspected facilities including the Entrepreneurship Center, housing the lucrative enterprise workshops and laboratories where practical skills and enterprise are taught. We understudied the entire center with a water treatment laboratory.
“Like I assured the students and the management of the university of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed commitment to change the dimension of the education system in Nigeria, with priority and special attention placed on the transformation and repositioning of the sector which has birthed numerous interventions recently including salary arrears payment, exclusion of tertiary institutions from IPPIS, reversal of 40% deduction into the Federation Account, and the Student Loan Act.
“I promise more attention and renewed effort of the Federal Government in ensuring the return for use of the University’s main campus soonest. The facilities are top-notch, and we can’t continue to allow them to waste while the student population grows beyond the takeoff site,” he stated.
Asefon and his entourage also graced the matriculation ceremony of 500 new students of the School of Continuing Education of the University, sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibril.
“I commend and appreciate the Deputy Senate President for his unprecedented passion for education development and continued support for youth from Kano State to acquire education and support for the entire Nigerian student body. I admonished the matriculating students to be law-abiding, focused, and determined as their success in this new academic sojourn officially commenced with the matriculation and is only remarkable if they push consistently to witness the convocation ceremony with good grade certification,” Asefon added.
The advisory chairperson of the flagship G4EP project for girl-child and female students moral boost and special support, Hon. Judith Ogbara, offered a session scholarship for 50 female students – 30 on merit, and 20 for indigent students of the University, which was announced by the Vice-Chancellor during the matriculation ceremony.
Various groups in FUDMA, including the Students Union Government (SUG), and socio-cultural groups like Kwara State Students body (NAKSS), and Yoruba Speaking Students Association honoured Asefon and Hon. Ogbara with awards of excellence for their renewed commitment to education, student welfare and development, respectively.
“We can’t thank the students and the management of the Federal University Dutsen Ma enough but assure them of our continued support, collaboration, and solidarity now and always with emphasis on a quick return for use of the university’s main campus,” Asefon added.
