Strong alumni support for UI college of medicine, reason for survival — Omigbodun, Provost

PROVOST, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Professor Olayinka Omigbodun, has attributed the college’s survival to its strong alumni support as she urged them to form an endowment to ensure their voices are loud and clear.

Omigbodun, speaking at the 2023 Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA) Day and distinguished alumni lecture in Ibadan, described the college’s alumni as “our hope for survival today and tomorrow,” as she lamented that many public universities are at risk of collapse due to poor funding by the Federal Government.

She said the Federal Government’s plan for all public institutions to remit 40 percent of internally generated funds will further worsen the conditions of public universities, which are already weighed down by the use of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) for grants used for researches and trainings.

“The way I see it, the alumni are the hope of the college. The Federal Government, in a news report, wants us to release 40 percent of our internally generated revenue. Institutions are already choked and going under.

“If anything, they should be looking for ways to give, not for us to hand over 40 percent of our hard-earned internally generated revenue. The public universities will just totally collapse and I don’t think that the alumni will stay back and watch,” she added.

Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Adebowale, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Professor Aderonke Baiyeroju, in a remark, said the university’s alumni are a testament to the enduring spirit of the institution and the transformative power of education.

While the accomplishments and contributions of alumni of the university will continue to inspire and uplift members of the university community, he urged members of ICOMAA to stay connected, continue to support one another and work together to advance the goals of the Ibadan College of Medicine.

Earlier, the ICOMAA Worldwide President, Professor Emmanuel Otolorin, had said the alumni day was to allow alumni of the college to come together to network and know more about happenings in their alma mata.

He added that biggest challenge faced in running the college, its teaching arm, which is the University College Hospital and the University of Ibadan is electricity supply.

“NEPA [PHCN] says that both the College of Medicine and the UCH, Ibadan owe it over N450 million. We hope that the government will come in and save these three institutions from this burden of electricity supply,” he said.

Professor Otolorin also charged the students of the College of Medicine in years to come to also look back to support indigent students and the day-to-day running of their learning institution.

The 2023 Distinguished Alumni lecturer, Mr Adebanji Adeyoju, a consultant urological surgeon at Stepping Hill Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, described the Ibadan College of Medicine a wonderful institution doing great work and worthy of support.

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