UNIFEMGA makes case for education sector

THE Obafemi Awolowo University Muslim Graduates’ Association (UNIFEMGA) has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the educational sector so that the country can produce high-quality manpower for industry and for the purpose of self-employment and entrepreneurship.

The call was contained in a communique after the association’s 2023 annual national reunion held last weekend at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

According to the communique, signed by the National President, AbdulFattah Olanlege and National Public Relations Officer, Shamsideen Adenopo, many Nigerian universities are producing graduates that lack skills for employment and creative ability.

The association also underscored the need for universities to generate income to complement government’s efforts, saying the education sector cannot be funded solely by the government.

It also said there is the urgent need for states and the private sector to invest in higher education for national development while calling on authorities at the higher institutions to be prudent in their spending.

UNIFEMGA urged the federal and state governments to adhere to the budgetary allocation recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to the educational sector to improve education development in Nigeria.

 

The reunion lecture was delivered by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed, who was represented by Professor Shehu Ado, a visiting scholar at NUC and a former vice chancellor of Al-Qalam University, Katsina, while Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN) chaired the occasion with the OAU vice chancellor, Professor Adebayo Bamire, as the chief host.

The event witnessed the presentation of 120 scholarships and grants worth N9.43 million to OAU students as part of the association’s welfare gesture to students of the university.

 

Since its inception, the association has disbursed about N50 million to no fewer than 800 students of the institution.

The association also launched its new website and a new history book and had its keep-fit exercise and novelty match as well as its Annual General Meeting (AGM) where its activities in the past one year were reviewed.