The President and聽Visitor to the 水果派 of Nigeria (NOUN), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has disclosed that his administration will continue to promote the Open and Distance Learning (ODL)聽mode of education聽as one of the strategies to improve access to higher education in the country.
The聽president聽stated this聽in his speech at the 13th聽Convocation聽Ceremony of the university on Saturday, April聽13, 2024聽at the university鈥檚 convocation arena, university headquarters, Jabi, Abuja.
Tinubu,聽represented at the event by Dr. Biodun Saliu, the Deputy Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), said聽鈥淲e will continue to do this in order to improve quality, access and affordability.鈥
He聽explained that聽the deployment of ODL approach in tertiary education was the major link to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
“Government is, therefore, committed through the Federal Ministry of Education and the NUC to provide the enabling environment to ensure a good delivery of this mode of education in Nigeria,鈥 he said.
The policy and aspiration of the federal government 聽being聽implemented by 聽NOUN 聽has been widen to accommodate the participation of the private sector. To this end,聽four private open universities聽were granted licenses to operate along-side with NOUN, he said.
鈥淲e must,聽therefore, give priority attention to the provision of appropriate capacity and continuous capacity building of our聽meagre聽resources that will engender the confidence of stakeholders in our graduates,鈥 the president stated.
He said that he was also aware that the Federal Ministry of Education was in the process of developing a national policy on ODL, 聽in collaboration with NOUN and other relevant stakeholders as approved by the聽National聽Council of聽Education, the highest policy-making body of education in Nigeria.
鈥淚 expect the policy to provide the sustainable framework for the implementation of ODL at all levels of education in Nigeria,鈥 Tinubu said.
The president聽commended the efforts of NOUN in hosting the World Bank Centre of Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL), following the postgraduate programmes in Artificial Intelligence, Management Information System and Cyber Security,聽among others.
According to him, every opportunity to promote the conduct of cutting-edge research that will have positive impact on humanity, will be given top priority, and will continue to encourage collaborative research that will sharpen and benefit the citizens of the 聽country and the world at large,
President聽Tinubu聽said the essence聽of聽extracting聽tertiary聽institutions from聽the use of the Integrated Personnel Payment System (IPPIS) for the payment of their staff salaries and allowances, was for proper financial management of resources. As such, he聽enjoined all tertiary institutions in Nigeria to ensure full implementation聽of the approved guild lines, to guarantee good governance and proper financial management enshrined in the institution of higher learning
鈥淚 wish to reiterate at this convocation ceremony that education forms an integral part in this present administration鈥檚聽Renewed聽Hope聽Agenda.聽Consequently,聽the federal government聽will continue to provide support towards making our tertiary education relevant and globally competitive,鈥澛爃e said.
Tinubu extended his heartfelt congratulations to the Chancellor, His Royal Majesty Omo N鈥橭ba N鈥橢do, Uku鈥 Akpolokpolo. Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin, on his investiture as the Chancellor of the university,聽even as he聽also聽congratulated聽Chief Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, CON, and Hajia Hafsatu Addulwaheed, on their conferment of Doctor of Business Administration聽(D.B) (Honoris Causa); and Doctor of Letters (D.Lit) ( Honoris Causa), respectively.
He聽also聽congratulated the graduates for their outstanding feat, and for the potential impact as future leaders and next generation solution provenders聽in聽the聽national life, saying that many of them would聽be ambassadors beyond the shores of the country and admonished them to be well behaved as they owe NOUN the obligation to be worthy ambassadors.