President Muhammadu Buhari has tasked universities in the country on the need for them to increase their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to enhance sustainable education.
Buhari stated this during the 44th convocation ceremony of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, on Saturday.
The president, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Dr Suleiman Raman-Yusuf, said that the present administration had contributed a lot in the area of education.
According to him, the future of Nigeria lies in the mode and quality of education provided to the teeming citizenry, especially the youth, as they are the nation’s future.
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While reiterating that government alone could not do it, Buhari noted that in most developed countries, universities supported their governments in the funding of education.
He urged universities to be up and doing in contributing their quota to the efforts in diversifying the nation’s economy and creating opportunity for economic growth.
“It is the responsibility of all and sundry to move the nation forward and towards the right direction,” the president stated.
He warned members of staff of the country’s universities against abuse of office, especially sexual harassment, saying that anyone found wanting would be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Buhari urged the graduating students to become honed in entrepreneurial skills, saying they should be providers of economic solutions rather becoming its problems.
He charged them to embark on research that would address the challenges of development and contribute to making life better.
“It is high time that universities took more proactive roles in ensuring that graduating students perform more meaningfully in the world of works,” he counselled.
The president assured that government would continue to provide an enabling environment for the graduating students to thrive in the country.
“It is in view of this that we wish to exhort our youths to start looking inwards, stay and advance the cause of their motherland. We have no other country than Nigeria. We should remain here to salvage the country together,” he said
