UNILORIN VC Wants Incoming President To Focus On Education

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali, has called on the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), to pay greater attention to the nation’s education sector with a view to raising the quality of education at all levels.

Prof. Ambali, who made the appeal while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, also urged the incoming administration to accord priority to the welfare of teachers at all levels of education  as well as improve on the funding of educational institutions in order to guarantee sound and qualitative education in tha country.

The Vice-Chancellor specifically urged the President-elect to direct his search light on Nigerian universities by giving them the necessary support and assistance for them to effectively carry out their tripartite mandate of teaching, research and community service.

Prof. Ambali said, “I expect the incoming President to empower us to be able to carry out the three responsibilities given universities by the Federal Government; that is teaching, research and community service. That means that we need more funding to be able to achieve all these roles. To be able to carry out both effective teaching and learning, there is also the need to improve on the environment within and outside the classroom”

The Vice-Chancellor identified infrastructural development and stable power supply as critical factors that can drive effective teaching and learning, especially at this time when teaching is ICT -Information and Communication Technology – driven.

He added that electricity supply is central to the success of any research endeavour, pointing out that research is carried out in the laboratories and it will be undermined if electricity supply is unstable.

“I want the Federal Government to address the issue of power supply not only to the universities but also to all Nigerian  homes because when researchers leave the laboratories, they have to go home. If they get home and cannot sleep comfortably, that means the following day, they will not be mentally and psychologically ready to carry out their responsibilities effectively,” Prof. Ambali said.

The Vice-Chancellor appealed to the in-coming President to do everything within his power to encourage the universities and other institutions of learning in the country to have zero tolerance for cultism and other anti-social behaviours that are inimical to a nation’s well-being.

He said, “Government can only do this by ensuring that anybody caught, no matter from which home he comes, should get an appropriate punishment. We need the support of the government, parents and law enforcement agencies because the university authorities can only discipline students to a certain level”