President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised his administration’s efforts to give much support to all young tertiary institutions to enable them to take root and have a sound foundation as they grow.

The president made the promise in a speech delivered at the second matriculation and Investiture of the pioneer chancellor of the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Babura in JIgawa state, said “the federal government on its part, along with its agencies, are leaving no stone unturned to, within the challenges of the times, give as much support as they can to all young tertiary institutions to enable them take root and have a sound foundation as they grow.”

President Tinubu presented by the minister of education, Professor Tahir Mamman noted that “You may recall that two additional Universities of Technology were created in July 2021 by the Federal Government: one in Ikot Abasi, in Akwa Ibom state for the South-South geo-political zone and one here in Babura, Jigawa State for the North-West zone.”

He added that this brought to six Federal Universities of Technology in the country, one for each geo-political zone, in the same exercise, two universities of Health Sciences were created at Azare, Bauchi State and Ila Orangun, Osun State, these initiatives had many policy objectives, including expanding access to higher education to more of our teeming youths, national manpower development to meet the needs of our expanding population and economy, improving delivery of critical medical services to Nigerians, ensuring equity in distribution of educational and professional training opportunities to all parts of the federation.

Tinubu maintained that above, all harnessing science and technology for national development it is an objective reality that science and technology are the new midas that have touched almost everything and changed human life in all its facets and when properly directed, for the better.

According to him “The entry point of benefitting from the power of science and technology is to develop the intellectual capacity and the critical mass of brain power to exploit its potentials, given our vast endowment of natural and human resources.”

He enjoined the students and entire teaming youth to contribute positively to the application of science and technology to solve societal problems as they arise, “The nation has done its duty by exposing you to a unique opportunity for self-development, professional training and a skilled future career. You need to reciprocate by excelling in your studies and future careers.

Mamman noted, “Therefore my call to all the lucky students so far admitted and the generations of others that will follow later, is to urge you to work hard and live up to the dream of your fathers, your community and your nation.”

On his part the pioneer chancellor of the university, His Majesty, Alayeluwa, Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin Ogunoye III, the Olowo Of Owo Kingdom expressed happiness and enormous appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for finding him worthy to be entrusted with the responsibility of pioneer Chancellor of the university, “I feel privileged to be invited to contribute whatever I can of my life experiences to help nurture and grow this fledgling institution. This duty I pledge to carry out to the best of my ability and within the mandate given to me.”

The pioneer chancellor commended the federal government initiatives for educational and youth development, “I wholeheartedly commend the Federal Government of Nigeria for its visionary step in introducing the Student Loan Scheme. This landmark initiative, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on April 3, 2024, seeks to guarantee sustainable higher education and functional skill development for all Nigerian students and youths”.

“It is a reflection of the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring equitable access to higher education. As a university, we pledge our support in disseminating information about this scheme and assisting our students in availing themselves of this opportunity.I urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to substantially increase funding for our universities, recognizing the pivotal role Universities play in driving national development and innovation,” he emphasised.

Speaking earlier the vice chancellor of the institute, professor, Saboda Ibrahim Birninkudu said a total of 550 students have been admitted and are being matriculated, as the second set of students, into the 2023/2024 academic session.”

The vice chancellor disclosed that”compared to last year when we matriculated a total of 401 as our first set of students, there has been a slight increase of 149 more students admitted; with the female intake dropping by one (36 compared to 37 last year) and a male population increment in the School of Engineering Technology (148 new intakes compared to 115 last year), there was an increase from 286 last year in the School of Science, Information and Communication Technology to 400 this year.” (Nigerian Tribune)

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