The vice-chancellor of KolaDaisi University, Ibadan (KDU-I), Professor Kolade Luke Ayorinde, says the future development of a country is tied to its youths, hence governments at all levels in Nigeria must make the right investments in youth education for therein lies the hope of the country.
Professor Ayorinde made the comments at the third matriculation ceremony of the university last Thursday, where a total of 131 students were matriculated into 12 programmes in the three faculties of the institution – Applied Sciences, Arts, Management and Social Sciences and the new Faculty of Law.
He noted that statistics from JAMB indicated that yearly over one million admission seekers fail to get a place in the nation’s higher institutions despite the quota of many such institutions being unfilled.
“For instance, in 2018, the total number of applicants was 1,793 018 out of which only 583,250 got admission into degree (43 federal, 48 State and 79 private universities), NCE, ND and NID programmes, despite a quota of 380,477 unused.
“The situation was worse for the 79 private universities where out of a quota of 89,524, only 25,697 or 28.70 per cent were used,” he noted.
“In 2019, the total number of applicants was 1,989,181 while over 2.1 million are said to have applied for the current year. This unused quota should worry the government that prides itself on making education available to all,” he added.
He also disclosed that by the next academic session, the university would be admitting students into the 12 new programmes for which approval had been granted by the National Universities Commission.
These are Biology, Chemistry, Cyber Security, Information Technology, Mathematics, Physics with Electronics, Software Engineering, Statistics, Banking and Finance, Marketing, Information and Media Science, and International Relations.
“We are also developing our new Faculty of Law on the path to being a Centre of Excellence by ensuring recruitment of outstanding faculty staff, provision of a good legal clinic and well stocked library,” he said.
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Professor Ayorinde appreciated the support of the founder, Chief Kola Daisi; members of the board of trustees and the governing council, and thanked friends and partners of the university who had donated generously in cash and kind, especially to develop the laboratories, library and the Law Faculty.
He told the new students that there is no place for smoking, gangsterism, hard drugs and acts of indiscipline, including pornography, indecent dressing, sexual offences, truancy, examination malpractice, and so forth in the institution as violators risk expulsion.
In his remarks, pro-chancellor and chairman of council, Professor Adeniyi Osuntogun, said in order to promote the contribution and effectiveness of private universities in national manpower development, the Federal Government must give serious consideration to extending the TETFund financial assistance and intervention to private universities in the country.
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