*UNILORIN a leading light in nation’s educational firmament – Publisher
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Incessant strike action has been identified as one of the major impediments militating against quality knowledge delivery and educational development in Nigeria and, therefore, a call has gone to the universities in the country to develop immunity against the scourge if, truly, they are desirous of being part of first 100 top universities in the world within the next five years.
These were the views of Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council of the University of Lagos, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Blueprint Newspaper Limited, Alhaji Mohammed Idris when they spoke at the 3rd University of Ilorin Annual Registry Lecture Series titled, “Public Service Rules and University Administration: Re-Engineering for Excellence”, held on the UNILORIN main campus in Ilorin on Tuesday.
Where Dr. Babalakin challenged authorities of Nigerian universities to work towards attaining the lists of 100 top universities in the world within the next five years, Alhaji Idris tasked them to develop immunity against the scourge of incessant strikes which he said was killing the nation’s university system.
The lecture, delivered by the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, coincided with the appointment of Dr. Fola Olowolene as the Registrar of the University.
In his address, Babalakin, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who was the chairman of the occasion, called for review of laws guiding Nigerian universities every 10 years for them to meet up with contemporary challenges.
Represented by the Managing Editor, Blueprint Newspaper, Mr. Clement Oluwole, Idris who was the Special Guest of Honour at the event, however praised the University of Ilorin for ‘‘being a leading light in the nation’s educational firmament’’ even as he announced the donation of N1 million to support its annual lecture series .
‘‘I referred to the University of Ilorin as the leading light because of the institution’s immunity to the scourge of strikes that has been afflicting our academic environment since the 80s .It is the inability of the plague to penetrate the fortress of this institution that has made it a preferred destination for admission seekers from different parts of the country.
‘‘In the light of this, I urge the university management to hold on to the immune booster at its disposal’’, he said
He also decried the proliferation of private universities in the country without corresponding results in quality of graduates being churned out yearly noting that ‘‘those who set up universities as business enterprises are doing more harm than good to the very important sub-sector’’.
The HOS emphasised that ‘‘laws need to be enforced and where they are no longer fit to stand the test of times ,they need to be reviewed.’’
The guest speaker, represented by the director, Organisational Design and Strategy, Mr Ben Omugo, decried what she called ‘‘non and weak enforcement of laws’’ as major problem facing public sectors including universities.
She charged university administrators to ‘‘open their doors for reform’’ in line with the federal government policies.
