President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has challenged Nigerian universities to move beyond the traditional focus on awarding degrees and graduates students capable of producing jobs in response to the realities of a rapidly changing global economy.
The President hurled the challenge on Tuesday in Ilorin, Kwara State, during the 37th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), held at the University of Ilorin.
Represented by the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaibat Saidu Ahmad, President Tinubu said the country could not achieve sustainable economic transformation without corresponding investment in human capital.
“Universities are more than institutions where degrees are awarded. They are centres of knowledge creation, innovation, critical thinking, entrepreneurship, cultural development and national transformation,” he said.
According to him, Nigerian universities must produce graduates who are not only academically sound but also innovative, ethical, digitally competent, entrepreneurial, adaptable and capable of solving real-world problems.
At the event , the Kwara State Government called for university reforms that would produce tangible benefits for communities rather than recommendations that would remain on government and institutional shelves.
Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the conference, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development and Supervising Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Dr Lawal Olohungbebe, welcomed the vice-chancellors to Kwara State and described the University of Ilorin as one of the state’s greatest educational assets.
