THE Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has called for more active participation of alumni in the funding of universities as part of the concerted efforts to improve the overall standard of institutions in Nigeria.
He observed that reliance on Federal Government funding alone for tertiary institutions was no longer sustainable as there were too many issues competing for the lean resources of government.
Malam Bello said this in his office in Abuja, while receiving the alumni association of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria led by its President, Professor Ahmed Tijani Mora, on a courtesy visit,
The minister said alumni associations had to take a lot of initiatives and drive as was the case in other internationally renowned universities around the world, to ensure that universities in the country continued to function and play their roles in the society.
Bello, said Nigeria need to also benefit from the huge remittances that Nigerians make to alumni associations of foreign universities, saying that it would not be out of place if Nigerians also showed concern for the welfare of their alma mater in the country.
The Minister, however, commended the resourcefulness of the current ABU alumni association for the numerous capital intensive projects it has embarked upon to improve the overall infrastructure base welfare of the University.
He assured them that the FCT administration would provide the association with all the needed support through the FCT branch, especially on some of the requests it made to the FCT minister.