Speaking at the 4th
graduation ceremony of Baze University, a private tertiary institution in
Abuja, Jonathan said young persons are taking charge in Europe.
He made references to President
Emmanuel Marcon of France, who is 39 years old, and Sebastian
Kurz, new leader of Austria, who is 31 years old.
Turning to the graduates of Baze
University, Jonathan said: “Great Nigerian students, does that tell you
anything?”
The former president advised
youth to seize the moment as far as leadership is concerned.
“This is because as young people,
many of you sitting in the classrooms today, will sit in various Government
offices and boardrooms tomorrow, to govern our country,” he said.
Jonathan also said there was the
need to strive and restore the sector to the days when “a graduate’s value was
weighed equally in character and in learning”.
He commended Yusuf Datti
Baba-Ahmed, a senator from Kaduna state, who is the proprietor of the
university, noting that private institutions were needed to complement those of
government.
“Each time I am within the
ambience of the academia, there is always that welcoming dĆ©jĆ vu feeling, a
kind of home coming, which brings back memories of my former life as a
lecturer,” Jonathan said.
“The point has to be made that as
Nigerians, we are not satisfied with our level of development.
“This is because countries that
were at par with us at the time we got independence in the 60’s, are already
deploying cutting-edge technology to build sophisticated equipment, and we
are now condemned by our own fate to buy such
machinery from them.
machinery from them.
“As president, I ensured that my
administration gave education the highest sectoral allocation in the federal
budgets between 2011 and 2015 because of my belief in the boundless
opportunities for greatness, which only education can provide.
“It was also for this reason that
we licensed many private universities, and established twelve Federal
Universities in the twelve states that had none, with nine of them in Northern
Nigeria.
“It is becoming increasingly
clear that the government alone can no longer cater for the educational needs
of our robust youth population. I believe that the contributions of institutions
like Baze University, and other private universities, will go a long way in
complementing the efforts of the Federal and State governments, towards
increasing the nation’s capacity to provide tertiary education for its
citizens.”
Look who's talking.
ReplyDeleteMr president i respect you for this comment even if i was angry with you for other things you refuse to put right when you had the opportunity. Not withstanding you are no match for this our so called leader who has failed on every side,full of fake promises,propaganda's and lies. You just did a publication barely some days before Maina's issues has hitting the Polity. APC is dead and will be buried 2019.
ReplyDelete