A former President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has called for the recalibration of the nation’s educational system to focus more on technology and innovation.
Jonathan made the call during the Founder’s Day Colloquium to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Igbinedion University, established on May 10, 1999, as Nigeria’s premier private university.
The colloquium, with the theme, “Re-Imagining Tertiary Education for Africa’s Present and Future Reality”, was held at the university’s main auditorium in Okada on Friday.
Jonathan described the focus on acquiring only certificates as damaging to the economy.
He stressed that the attitude should be discouraged by emphasising knowledge and skills acquisition to produce graduates that would pilot the economy.
“I want to congratulate the founder of this university and say that because of the success of the university, successive governments gave licences to other private universities to operate.
“There is always resistance when one starts something new, but with your commitment and dedication, your efforts in the last 25 years are commendable.
“All founders of private universities in Nigeria need to celebrate you for opening the door for them,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria needs to recalibrate its educational system, right from the primary school level to produce people who are technologically savvy to pilot the economy.
The former president thanked the former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsami Abubakar, for approving the licence of the private university.
Also, Abubakar, who was instrumental in the establishment of the university, said Igbinedion University had immensely contributed to the growth and development of Nigeria in almost every sector.
He congratulated the Chancellor and Founder of the university, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, for the foresight to pursue a private university licence 25 years ago.
Meanwhile, Igbinedion thanked dignitaries for coming to celebrate with him, saying that the university had impacted lives positively in Nigeria.
Igbinedion, who specifically thanked Abubakar for the honour done him, said that 25 years down the line, graduates from the institution had continued to excel in their various fields.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the university, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, disclosed that students of the institution were exposed to entrepreneurial and skills acquisition modules.
This, he said, was to make them become job providers in the world.
The VC disclosed that the student population had grown steadily from 115 at inception in 1999 to over 5,000, adding that the staff strength had also increased from 55 at inception to 803.
“At 25, it is significant to note that the brilliant exploits of our Blue-sky graduates in their various fields of endeavour across the globe evidenced the quality of our products,” he said.