The National Secretary of the Nigeria Universities’ Commission, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, says the country needs an influx of private universities in order for it to measure up to the level of other countries.
Prof Abubakar made this call while delivering a brief convocation lecture on “Higher Education and the Future of Private Universities in Nigeria “at the 6th convocation of the Fountain University, Osogbo on Saturday.
He pointed out that it is regrettable that a country, whose population currently stands at over 190 million people only has less than 200 universities, meaning each of the university would have to accommodate not less than 1.2 million students so as to fulfil its education responsibility, a situation which he says is responsible for many of the issues experienced in the education sector.
According to him, other countries around the world boast of an average number of 500,000 students to a University because they have enough institutions on ground.
He added that there are a number of individuals who had submitted proposals to commission the establishment of private universities in the country, putting the number of the proposal at no less than 300.
He called on the NUC to organise a private universities’ summit where pressing issues as to the efficient productivity of the schools would be discussed.
He said, “A summit needs to be organised so that issues bordering on productivity and other related issues would be looked into.
“The country is awash with candidates who are seeking admission yearly. Only 20% of those who write UTME are admitted due to the non-availability of the facility to cater for them and except we encourage the establishment of more private universities, this backlog would continue to grow,” he said.
The Pro chancellor of Fountain University, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, who corroborated the NUC scribe, urged the graduands to be good ambassadors of the school.
“Our graduands have a duty to be good ambassadors and to be ready to add value to the world and especially Nigeria.
“Do not consider your first degree as the end of the race rather consider it a springboard for you to learn more. Do not get sick learning new things,” he said.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state, in his remarks, challenged faith-based institutions to breed students who are excellent in learning and character.
He said universities are supposed to provide solutions to societal problems, observing that one of the major problems in the society is character.
The governor said education should go beyond the four walls of the classroom.
The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Abdullateef Usman, praised Prof Is-haq for his contribution to the infrastructural development of the university.
He announced the best graduating student to be Oni Omobukola Azizat, who garnered a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.83 from the department of Biochemistry and Nutrition.
