The Nation Newspaper

Tag: President

  • Open letter to the president

    SIR: I will be surprised if the avalanche of economic advice you have received since you were declared winner of the March 28 presidential election did not centre on job creation. This is one area I believe you must avoid the pitfalls of your predecessors. States and federal government in the past simply created avenues for people to earn salaries and wages instead of actually creating jobs. If not why would state governments not be able to pay their workers for more than three months now?

    For your government to achieve success, it should concentrate on agriculture.  Before the oil boom of 1970, Nigeria was an exporter of agricultural produce. In fact, in 1960, agriculture constituted about 80 percent of Nigeria’s GDP. This is an area where we have a comparative cost advantage. It is needful, therefore, for your government to build on the gains of the past administration to ensure that agriculture becomes once again, viable in this nation. With an expansive landmass covering over 923km square, an estimated arable land of about 68million hectares; abundance of natural forest and rangeland; varieties of livestock and wildlife; an agricultural friendly climate, coastal, marine resources; expansive rivers and lake; large regional and international market; Nigeria can provide adequate and viable jobs for its teeming youth. Government should give incentive to graduates who have interest in farming. Your government could also establish federal government farms in all local government of the federation where graduates could easily be employed

    Agro-allied industries should be created to absorb our teeming high school leavers. Besides these, your administration should discourage the practice of sharing available job spaces to legislators, ministers and governors. Equal opportunities should be given to all job seekers to vie for available job spaces. This would encourage competition and merit, and discourage abuse of public offices.

     

    • Ohimai Daniel,

    Lagos

     

  • ‘Nigeria lucky to have Buhari as president’

    ‘Nigeria lucky to have Buhari as president’

    A group, under the auspices of Think Nigeria Development Initiative (TDI), has said Nigerians should count themselves lucky to have President Muhammadu Buhari as their leader at this point in the nation’s history.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja at the weekend, convener of the group, Mr. Roland Ajie, noted that the emergence of Buhari as president has offered Nigerians a lifetime opportunity to get to the Promised Land.

    Ajie said: “The major development challenge that the nation has faced over the years is lack of visionary and purposeful leadership. We are lucky, once again, as a nation, to have a leader of a character of Muhammadu Buhari whose only interest is to develop Nigeria. If Buhari succeeds, we succeed as a nation.

    “We are confident that President Buhari will do his best to develop Nigeria given his integrity, pedigree and track record. But it is also important to note that the Nigeria project is not the sole responsibility of Mr. President. We must all join hands to support our leader to succeed.

    “If he fails, we would have failed as a people. And this is why we must all ensure that we support him to deliver on his campaign promises. The President needs the support of every Nigerian to succeed.”

    The group hailed Buhari’s resolve to fight corruption, which it said has destroyed the fabrics of the nation and undermined all development efforts.

    It advised the President to appoint only persons of integrity and sound character into his cabinet, adding that the President should choose appointees based on merit and deliverables and not on regional, religious or political affiliations.

    The TDI called on Nigerians, especially the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to support Buhari to put Nigeria back on the track of development.

  • President ‘not in a hurry to appoint ministers, others’

    President ‘not in a hurry to appoint ministers, others’

    President Muhammadu Buhari is not in a hurry to appoint ministers.

    He yesterday attributed the delay in picking his team to the late submission of the transition committee’s report on the previous administration.

    The President told reporters at the African Union (AU) Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, that he was being careful not to make mistakes in appointing individuals, especially to key positions, such as finance and petroleum ministries.

    “I don’t know why people are so anxious about ministers. But eventually we will have (them).

    “But the main reason is that I have an interim committee which I agreed with former President Jonathan that the ministers of the outgoing government should hand over their notes or their documents to this interim committee so that a position can be prepared for the new government to start from, with clear records from ministers.

    “But the ministers knew that they were going but the technocrats, the permanent secretaries and directors and so on, they know they would remain.

    “If anything goes wrong they would be invited to explain, but unfortunately the outgoing government did not cooperate.

    “So, what the committee did was to divide itself into about five sub-committees and get a resource person that was willing to come and bring the document, and so they prepared and I got the report I think three days ago.

    “I was waiting for this report because I would like to know what position in the government especially in terms of finance and petroleum industry. So, I am not in a hurry to get ministers.

    “I want to get ministers after at least I have seen the report because I don’t have to appoint a minister today and sack him the next week because this report would give me what actually happened in terms of security, economy of the country.

    “And since I have to have ministers from politicians and technocrats, I wouldn’t (like to) make the mistake of getting somebody, who has been involved on account of accountability”.

    Buhari added that he, ex-President Jonathan and former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, had agreed to letting the former ministers hand over their notes to the interim committee he had formed.

    He said the planned examination of the handover notes had to be suspended when the then ruling party accused his then incoming administration of forming a parallel government.

    Buhari said he actually wanted to get a platform from the former ministers on which to start from following the problem of accountability in the administration.

    The President, who recalled that during his time as minister of petroleum during the Olusegun Obasanjo military regime, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had only three accounts, said that during the immediate past administration, the NNPC and the ministry of finance did not know how many accounts they had.

    He described the development as improper.

    He also said the emergence of Bukola Saraki as Senate President divided the All Progressives Congress in spite of the moves by the party to avert a crisis.

    He said the onus was on the National Assembly to resolve the issue as it had its own criteria for choosing its officers, which was why he did not want to interfere in the exercise.

    Buhari said the problem of Boko Haram had been internationalised and expressed his happiness with the support coming from Nigeria’s neighbours and the G7 in an effort to end insurgency.

  • First Lady: don’t pay any money to see President

    First Lady: don’t pay any money to see President

    First Lady Aisha Buhari has warned influence peddlers never to collect money from people who want to see the President.

    She spoke on Saturday night during “an appreciation dinner at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in honour of All Progressives Congress (APC) women and youths who played a major role in President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the March 28 election.

    She said: “There is nothing people did not say about the past administration. It is not Jonathan that is not good but the people around him.

    “So, the people that are going to be around President Buhari have to be very careful because this election ended peacefully.

    “We are praying and hoping that people around him should know that it took him 12 years to get to that position and they must know that they are coming to serve the masses, not President Buhari in person.

    “It is the people that are around him that will determine the political health of our state.”

    Stressing that the Buhari administration would run an open government, Mrs. Buhari said it would be run in clear departure from what obtained in the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when people were allegedly asked to pay  money in foreign currency before they could see the President or his wife.

    She said: “I will like to inform you that in the past regime, whether it is true or false, only God knows, some people were going round and parading themselves as Personal Assistants.

    “If you wanted to see the First Lady, you would pay $30,000 or $50,000 and if you were seeing the President, you would pay all that you have gathered in your lifetime.

    “This will not happen in our regime. Whoever asks you to give a single penny in the name of coming to see the President or his wife is not our staff. He is not an APC member, it is a lie. Don’t be deceived.”

    Noting that she did not take part in the campaigns of her husband in the first three times he contested and failed, Mrs Buhari said her active participation in the last electioneering made the difference.

    According to her, APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu encouraged her to play an active role in the Buhari campaign.

    She said: “Many people did not know why I was not appearing for the last three campaigns. I appeared only this time and I think it made a lot of difference. A lot of people said my husband earned four million votes as a result of my campaign.

    “We were not sure but with the popularity of my husband, we thought then that he needed female support to cancel the all sorts of gender problems people have been attaching to him, like saying he kept me under a purdah.

    “He had never kept me under a purdah even for a moment since I got married to him.

    “Even now, by the recent campaigns, it was Bola Ahmed Tinubu who insisted that I should come out and support my husband. Not that I never liked supporting my husband but it all depended on the people around him; that was before.

    “And now too, it is the people around him that showed that they wanted me to participate. We did and we have seen the difference.”

    She said Buhari was the pillar of her success, despite the generation gap between the two of them, as he even encouraged her to go to school.

    “My husband is a gender-sensitive human being, having so many girls as his own biological children and then having me as a wife; you can see the generation gap. He allowed me to go to school. To cut the story short, he is the pillar of my success.”

    When Tinubu continued pestering her to join the campaign train, Mrs. Buhari said, she sought her husband’s approval.

    Mrs. Buhari first appeared at a rally in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    According to her, the greatest challenge she faced during the campaigns was security.

    She recounted how the wife of Zamfara State Governor told her how supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stopped their convoy from returning to Gusau, the state capital, up until 4am at a point.

    She said she had her own experience when she joined the campaign train to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    Former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who was the chairman of the event, thanked Mrs. Buhari and other women for making his job as the Director-General of the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation easy.

    He recalled that before the President’s wife joined the campaign, some Nigerians were asking for her and after she joined their attention shifted to whether Buhari had a certificate or not.

    He said: “Before you (Mrs. Buhari) joined us, they were asking for his wife. When we presented his wife, they were asking for his certificate.

    “When we presented certificate, they said he was sick in London. Our president is strong and healthy. He visited 35 states during the election.

    “Thank you for your reply when they asked if women will want to go and give food to their husbands in prison. You made our jobs easier.

    I wish all women who took part in the campaign God’s blessing.”

    The National Women Leader of APC, Hajia Ramatu Tijani, advised the party leadership to ensure they deliver on the change they promised Nigerians.

    She said that the dinner was organised to appreciate those who made the change possible by touring all parts of the country to campaign for the party.

    She said: “This is the night for those who share our dream for change. It is for those who toiled across the country for victory. This event is meant to appreciate those who made the change possible.”

    Tinubu was represented by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who read his brief remark titled: “This change is about women.”

    Others at the dinner included the Vice President’s wife Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; Senate President Bukola Saraki’s wife, Toyin; wife of the House of Representatives  Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s wife, Gimbia and APC National Chairman’s wife, Victoria Odigie-Oyegun.

    Also at the dinner were wives of APC governors, APC female deputy governors; wives of former governors on the platform of the party and other top officials of the party across the country.

     

  • The President needs an innovation adviser

    A few years ago, a group of African scholars, including myself with a sprinkle of international, non-African, colleagues, gathered in Accra, Ghana, under the auspices of the then nascent African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) to initiate a flagship report of the Centre on Africa’s economic transformation. At that propitious gathering, I canvassed that any definition of transformation must include a clear indication that the country has mastery, a command, if you like, of the production architecture of a few goods and services or a set of goods and services. By this, I explained, that the technology of production of these few goods and services must be under complete control of that country- she can produce it, adapt it, modify it and redirect it to produce profitable goods and services. I was inexplicably defining an Innovation Economy- an economy that creates things.  In essence while I appreciated the necessity of made in Africa, the destination must be made by Africans and a transforming nation should have the benchmarks for moving towards this destination.

    My concern is that Nigeria is not establishing these benchmarks and no one is worrying about them. The global innovation index of 2014 ranks Nigeria 110 out of 143 countries. Compare that with the ranking of these selected countries: Rwanda (102), Egypt (99), Uganda (91), Indonesia (87), Kenya (85), India (76), Brazil (61), South Africa (53), Barbados (41), Mauritius (40), Malaysia (33), China (29), South Korea (16), Israel (15), and Finland (4). This index, while not perfect, clearly underscores our innovation gap and points to the sets of issues that the new leadership should address in the drive to transform the economy and provide prosperity for all.

    To transform is to diversify the economy. But diversification is not a natural phenomenon as many of our leaders’ pronouncements tend to suggest. It must be caused to happen through organized public actions. Development and inclusive prosperity is, therefore, about diversification and structural change, the creation of new things on a competitive basis from both the traditional and non-traditional sectors. It is technology-led development which is a leadership endeavour. Leaders and their governments must provide the vision, the strategy and the infrastructure, both human and physical that underpins any industrial or technological advantage. The more underdeveloped a nation is, the more the government is expected to do. And let me emphasize that no nation has ever diversified without active government brokerage and intervention, often couched in terms of industrial and technology policy or what may be termed industrial policy by other means – the sort that industrialized countries engage in. The pillars of government’s intervention include training of critical mass of high quality scientists and engineers, significant and purposeful research and development spending, creation of incentives for invention and patenting, nurturing and encouraging venture capitalists that can support a start-up culture and, sometimes, acting as the venture capitalist through an innovation fund, creation and support of dynamic business clusters, bolstering firm-level competitive behaviour that encourages learning and innovation, investing in specialized infrastructure and institutions, acting as a broker between knowledge generating institutions such as universities and other research institutions and business and entrepreneurial entities that have the capacity to translate ideas and promising research results into goods and services.

    There is more. The leadership must be entrepreneurial and visionary with a strong sense of purpose. It must have the capacity and the moral authority to change the citizens’ and other layers of governments’ “mental model” including self-doubt, reward for production rather than consumption, resolution of coordination failure between the federal government and states and local governments and their understanding of their role in innovation and job creation, tap into Diaspora knowledge, access and network, and to address cultural traits that inhibit innovation such as risk-averseness, fear of failure, paternalism and hierarchy, gender inequity, poor attitude and work ethics. The leadership must imbue citizens with the right innovation orientation: to grow their insights, to build interpersonal trust and cooperation, to continually learn in order to improve productivity and competitiveness and incentivize and challenge them to dare. When President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961, stated that America would land a man on the moon, he did not have all the facts. He knew that it was going to be a challenging technological achievement. His goal was to demonstrate technological superiority over the Soviet Union. And leaders set goals. That mission statement from a respected leader galvanized NASA and the American scientific community and mission was accomplished by 1969. Israel has been described as “start-up” centric, with more business start-ups per capita than any other nation, with half of her exports in the high tech sector. They have turned their desert to forest. But the government of Israel including her early leaders such as Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres worked tirelessly to build the foundation for their technological revolution. Finland, the home of Nokia, was a natural resource based economy, exporting forestry based products such as paper a few years ago. Thanks to the foresight of her government and leaders in the 1990s, they created institutions and used active technology policies to transform their economy, moving from investment driven to innovation driven economy. Today, Finland is one of the most competitive in the world and her major exports are in high tech.  The story of Nokia, a large technology company, a former rain boot manufacturer is a story of effective partnership between an intelligent government and an innovative private sector.

    In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama spoke about how to motivate what he called “an economy built to last”, an economy with a strong manufacturing base and an economy that generates quality jobs. But more importantly, Obama outlined strong and intelligent policies that would underpin this economy, and the robust relationship between the government and the private sector that gives birth to this economy. Such government interventions, according to him, include training skilled workers, strengthening education especially in science and engineering and supporting innovation and “using public resources to develop technologies that industries use.”  He went further to illustrate this when he said that “it is public research dollars, over the course of 30 years, that helped develop technologies to extract all this natural gas out of Shale rock…government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground”. It is, therefore, clear that both in developed and developing countries where structural transformation has taken place or is taking place, it is government’s business to support business innovation and competitive edge. But it must be done in an intelligent and strategic manner. And it requires leadership at the highest level.

    So what is Nigeria’s model for an innovation economy? What kinds of assets and benchmarks are we building? And what are the institutions that can be used to create an innovation economy – one that would create wealth and spread prosperity? Nigeria has at least four important parastatals that can be organized and re-directed to support and accelerate our innovation assets. They are the Raw Material Development and Research Council (RMRDC), National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund (PTDF), and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). These institutions have quasi-independent sources of revenue and can be galvanized to collaborate and be more strategic. In addition, I would like to suggest that we create an Innovation Fund. The nucleus of such a fund can be all the recovered monies and assets from corrupt acts, including those from corrupt politicians and private sector actors. This would be a classic case of turning evil into good.

    In order to provide leadership at the highest level, the President would require a Senior Adviser – a Chief Innovation Adviser (CIA). This Cabinet level appointee would be responsible for dealing with the issues raised in this piece. Acting on behalf of the President, he or she would coordinate the relevant MDAs and engineer the States to be centres of innovation for the purpose of creating quality jobs and spreading prosperity, work with the private sector to improve innovation at the firm-level, serving as a bridge between public initiatives and generation and use of knowledge capital in the private sector. Above all, he/she would be the constant reminder to the President that on this matter he must provide strong leadership as the Innovation Commander-in Chief. And that the buck stops with him.

  • Open letter to President Buhari

    SIR: We bring our plight to your attention as we anticipate your promise to end corruption, impunity and insecurity in Nigeria.  This open letter is meant to shed more light on the challenges faced by Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora especially as it pertains to Nigerian embassies abroad. Though your office is open to the people unlike your predecessor who alienated himself from the masses, I choose this medium to actually send a point to those who might not be privileged to see a private letter.

    We have absolutely no reason to doubt your commitment to cleanse the government of corruption and to create a government that works for the people of Nigeria. This time is particularly important because Nigeria stands at the threshold of greatness or implosion, and the decisions you make in the next few years will significantly determine our future as a country.

    We recall your promise during the campaign to end the impunity of extrajudicial killings and to deliver justice to the families of the victims. This gave new hope to many people who defied fear and terror to vote for you.

    We know that our quest for truth, justice and healing faces historical and structural challenges that are not easy to transcend. Victims, witnesses, advocates, and family members continue to face threats to life and health. But we cannot stop the work to end the culture of impunity and join efforts to bring forth a culture of accountability.

    Tackling this problem demands wisdom and firmness that the previous government was unable to show. You have to make difficult decisions, and there is no way out of the mess our dear nation has been thrown into that will be easy. Like many Nigerians, I hope you do whatever it takes to restore normalcy to the country.

    Secondly, I would also want to bring to your attention the criminal practice of Nigerian embassies across the globe. One wonders whose interests they protect or if Nigerian embassies that are supposed to protect the rights of every Nigerian living in diaspora have now become businesses. The daily exploitation of Nigerians by these embassies must come to an end; we must define the path of our country on accountability and transparency at home and abroad.

    These embassies continue to charge Nigerians $20 to stamp any document most especially in Eastern European countries; this act is illegal, criminal and alien to the constitution of Nigeria. The problem extends beyond monetary exploitation to their lack of concern for Nigerians living in the countries they serve. In different countries around the world, embassy staff do not answer phone numbers on their websites, hardly respond when Nigerians are in trouble, and generally behave as if they don’t care at all. We cannot expect people to respect us if those people know that we don’t matter to our own embassies in their countries. Here in Ukraine, the story is not different; we must stop this if we are interested in reclaiming our place as the giant of Africa.

    Sir, you have to strive for the change that we desire. You know Nigerians trust you to deliver on your promises, and I strongly believe that addressing these two issues would be a great way to start your mission to move Nigeria to the heights of greatness that it so surely deserve.

     

    • Comrade Ahmed Omeiza Lukman,

    Kiev Ukraine.

  • This president gives a damn

    A number of Nigerians, including some noted columnists and groups, have been calling for the public disclosure of the assets and liabilities of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN). This came barely a week after their inauguration.Some have also mischievously insinuated the beginning of the end of the hyped fight against corruption.

    In all these, it is reassuring to get an update from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, “that President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo will make their assets declaration public after same would have been verified by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).”

    The elementary lesson here is the need for patience and circumspection on the part of our critics. That we have a formidable combination in a retired army general and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as the occupants of the highest offices in the land should now be clear to all.

    Take this team for granted and become a comic character in the eyes of more discerning observers. Casting aspersions on the credibility of these gentlemen is therefore not an option and should be discouraged. It’s early days yet.

    Public commentators who insist on this hasty path will only continue to make a mockery of their columns and persons. If the relevant details of their assets and liabilities have been lodged with the Code of Conduct Bureau, it is incumbent on the Bureau to verify same for accuracy and authenticity.

    Calling for the public disclosure of such unverified claims is undoubtedly premature and infantile. Let us not stampede our new leaders as this president and his deputy appear to give a damn!

    •Frank Oluku, GRA, Benin

  • President yet to move into Villa

    President yet to move into Villa

    President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to relocate to his official residence in Aso Rock.

    Buhari was inaugurated as President on Friday when he took over from former President Goodluck Jonathan at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

    A source in the Presidential Villa, who does not want his name in print, said yesterday that renovation had been completed at the official residence.

    He said: “Renovation of the residence has been completed with furniture in place. It is now left for the president to organise prayer in the house and then move in. I believe that will be done this week.

    “This is normal because the former President did not just move in immediately after he was sworn in as President. He took some days before he moved in after a prayer session was organised in the official residence.”

    Speaking with Buhari’s Head of Media team, Garba Shehu, on telephone yesterday on whether Buhari has moved into the Villa, he said: “Not yet.”

    Asked why the delay and when the President is likely to move in, he said: “I don’t know. I’m waiting in his house to listen to him.”

  • Students: So long, Mr President

    President Goodluck Jonathan will bow out tomorrow. How will students remember him? Some say they won’t miss him; others laud his ‘achievements’. OLUWAFEMI OGUNJOBI writes.

    Tomorrow, there will be a change of  government. President Goodluck Jonathan will relinquish power to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated him in the March 28 election. It was the first time a sitting President will lose election in the nation.

    For the outgoing President Jonathan, tomorrow marks the end of his six-year administration. Jonathan came to power, promising to take Nigeria to greater height through his Transformation Agenda. He assumed office, following the death of his predecessor, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010.

    But, did the nation fare well under his administration? Given the hardship in the twilight of his administration, he may be leaving a bad legacy.

    In the last few weeks, the country has been in darkness; electricity generation dropped to below 2,000 Megawatts. Petrol, a commodity which the nation produces in large quantity, is sold far beyond the fixed pump price because of scarcity. Life has become more unbearable for the people.

    Students, especially, will not forget the outgoing administration in a hurry. Under the Jonathan administration, university, polytechnic and college of education teachers shut down campuses for over 10 months because of non-implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which they signed with government in 2009.

    There were other incidents, which almost brought down education to its knees. One was the killing students in Buni Yadi and Potiskum, in Yobe State by Boko Haram insurgents. 43 were killed in Buni Yadi and 47 in Potiskum.

    Under Jonathan, the insurgents stepped up their bloody campaign against education. Will students miss him? “No,” says Segun Odunayo, a 300-Level student of Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) in Ondo State. The era of President Jonathan will not be forgotten by students and parents, he said.

    Segun said: “Although, the Jonathan administration established more universities, but some of his policies were guided by politics and not nation-building. The universities created are as poorly equipped as the existing ones. President Jonathan’s exit is good riddance.”

    The poor funding and perennial closure of tertiary institutions which marred the tenure of the outgoing administration has left education in a shambles, Abiodun Omonijo, a graduating student of Political Science of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, said.

    He said: “The problems with education did not arise in one day; they are consequences of long years of neglect, which I consider to be deliberate on the part of the ruling class. Fixing the problems would require years of planning which will transcend the tenure of the incoming administration.”

    Abiodun questioned the reason for establishing more universities when the existing ones are dying for lack of adequate funding.

    “Why would I miss President Jonathan when his administration failed to address the hike in school fees imposed on us by the management?” Quadri Olaoluwa, a 400-Level Accounting student of OAU, asked, adding that the president remains insensitive to the plight of his parents who cannot afford the school fee.

    ‘’I will miss him,” Ezekiel, a medical student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) said. “There is no government that is perfect. President Jonathan has performed excellently well in education, he added.

    “The industrial actions by the lecturers’ unions were the only noticeable calamity that befell education during his time. But, who is talking about 14 new universities established by the president? These schools would make tertiary education admission accessible and affordable to many. The Jonathan administration also introduced the Federal Scholarship Board (FSB), which gave opportunity to thousands of First Class graduates to further their studies in world-class institutions across the globe. Although, there is work to be done. But, compared to the rot he met, Jonathan has created a good platform for the incoming government to work on,” Ezekiel said.

    Oluwatobi Oseni, a graduate of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, said despite students’ bad experience under Jonathan, the outgoing president made far-reaching decisions that will turn out to be good in the end.

    Hammed Hamzat, a graduate of the University of Ibadan, said: “Given the rot in education, it will be out of place to say President Jonathan has done well in the sector. Whether he will be missed will be judged by the effort of the incoming administration to clear up the mess.”

     

     

  • AAU President counsels varsities

    The President of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and Vice-Chancellor, FUNAAB, Prof Olusola Oyewole, has challenged universities in the country to be well-positioned to contribute their quota to the socio-economic transformation of the nation, like FUNAAB.

    Oyewole said FUNAAB has positioned itself well by maintaining a tradition of excellence – evident in the quality of its graduates, as well as being made a World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence in Agriculture.

    He also said FUNAAB is favoured by many admission seekers, including international students, many of whom have won scholarship to study in the university.  He spoke of plans to started a Distance Learning Programme to meet the demand for access to university education.