President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Saturday urged Nigerian universities to channel their knowledge, through research, towards solving the socio-economic and security challenges in the country.
According to the president, the intellectual scholarship of the universities should be used as solution to reduce poverty and create jobs in the country.
Tinubu, who was represented by the Minister for Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, spoke at the 38th convocation ceremony of Bayero University, Kano.
BUK also awarded the president of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina and Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibril with honorary doctorate degrees of Business Administration and Law respectively for their contribution to national development.
Tinubu said: “Universities are expected to define their roles and carve out a niche for themselves by designing programmes that will assist the government in poverty reduction, creating employment opportunities, and health promotion.
”We must also apply new technologies in the advancement of knowledge and prosperity, protecting the environment, promoting sustainable development as well as sustaining democracy and good governance without missing out on the quest towards the attainment of global sustainable development goals”.
Tinubu said a renewed commitment to revive the 970 Tsangaya integrated schools has been completed to cater for the needs of out of school children in Northern Nigeria.
The revitalisation of Tsangaya schools may reactivate integrated education system of Almagiria system, including the N15billion integrated centres established by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 now abandoned.
The president also assured of his readiness to improve investment at all levels of education, adding that special focus will be on skills acquisition, technology and vocational education as core drivers of his administration’s policy.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio pledged the national assembly’s commitment to support the Federal Government’s policy on education. He said the Senate under his leadership will run a people-centric legislature that improves the lives of Nigerians.
