From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Prof Sola Akinrinade, has challenged politicians to provide good governance and stop the distribution of palliative that will not solve the problem of Nigerians.
He faulted the palliative and other projects usually carried out by politicians saying that people need to be taught how to solve problems by themselves.
Akinrinade who delivered the 12th and 13th convocation lecture of the Osun State University at the main campus, Osogbo, on Thursday, spoke on “The universality of the university system: A case for functional university education in Nigeria.”
He posited that the government has a lot of roles to play just as the management of the institutions and even students to ensure functional education, global competitiveness, and national relevance.
Akinrinade who was the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the university, said “What we need is not palliative but good governance. Bring down the cost of living, create an enabling environment for people and people should be taught how to solve their problems.
“Our governments should permit the functioning of the prescribed autonomous governance structures as enshrined in the establishment laws of these institutions.
“In addition, the government should make resources available as the provision of a good university education costs money. Government, particularly at the federal level, should come up with a firm position on funding and cost-sharing in the universities. If each university is truly autonomous, many of these issues would not even come up.
The Chancellor of the university, Dr. Folorunso Alakija, in her address, disclosed that the hospital donated on behalf of her family, which foundation was laid on 30th November 2018 is now completed and fully equipped, saying that the project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Odunayo Adebooye, who reeled out the achievements in students-related activities, personnel, and physical and infrastructural developments, stated that plans have been concluded to hold graduation every September that follows students’ final examinations in July of the same year.
He stated that five staff of the university who have distinguished themselves in the attraction of research grants have been selected for the Research Excellence Award.
“We want to be among the top 10 universities in Nigeria and emerge among the top 25 in Africa by 2026. We know the various requirements for these, and we are pursuing them vigorously. We know that a consistently peaceful teaching and learning environment that is devoid of strike and student violence is critical, and this we have labored to establish and sustain.
“We know the role of a committed and happy workforce in the achievement of this, and we are committed to it by increasing our staff’s satisfaction level through beyond-the-bar packages and incentives. We know the criticality of the need for well-equipped laboratories and libraries, as well as the deployment of modern technologies for knowledge impartation. We are also very strongly determined,” Adebooye added.