Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has advised the nation’s universities to explore private funding as an alternative to government interventions, saying it is a vital means of sustainability in academic institutions.
He made the call during the official opening of the auditorium donated to the Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Public Health, University of Ibadan, by the Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu Foundation.
Osinbajo said the Nigerian government’s annual budget is inadequate to meet national developmental needs, urging universities to embark on marketing to meet their needs rather than blaming the government for all their inadequacies.
He also commended the UI Department of Nutrition and Dietetics for its earlier role in the Nigerian food chain, even as he urged the department to engage more in research that is in synergy with the needs of relevant government agencies.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Olubanwo Adeosun, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State appreciated the foundation for the donation, noting that Adebutu is a philanthropic Nigerian who donates generously irrespective of political or religious affiliations of the beneficiaries.
The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Kayode Adebowale, represented by his deputy in charge of Administration, Ezekiel Ayoola, thanked the donor organization and assured that the auditorium would be put to good use and be well maintained.
He noted that “the project was particularly significant and praiseworthy at a time like this when Federal Universities required all the support they could get from all quarters.”
The Provost of the College of Medicine, Olayinka Omigbodun, urged the government to relax its policies such as TSA, which are strangulating research efforts in the universities.
She also urged the government to transform the universities to discourage brain drain.
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