From Our Government House Correspondent
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has rewarded 50 first-class graduating students of the Federal University of Lafia (FULafia) with a one-month skills acquisition training at the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Technical Institute in Lafia, as well as five hundred thousand naira each as seed money to start their businesses.
Governor Sule announced the rewards during his speech on the occasion of the 6th, 7th, and 8th combined convocation of FULafia, on Saturday.
According to the Governor, the graduating students have the opportunity to undergo a one-month training at the vocational and technical institute where they can choose among 12 different areas of skills to include electrical installation, welding and fabrication, air conditioning and refrigeration, as well as carpentry among others.
"You will be able to be trained in any one of those for that period. As you are graduating, everyone of you will receive a working capital of N500,000 so that you can go and start something else," he stated.
While congratulating the university's governing council, management, and staff for conducting the convocation ceremony, he challenged the graduates to put to use the knowledge and skills they have acquired during their stay in FULafia to serve as an impetus for their career development and to add value to the educational advancement of the country.
Governor Sule emphasized that there is no amount of investment and sacrifice that can be too much in providing quality education, especially as education remains the most enduring legacy any government can bequeath to the younger generation, given the myriad of challenges confronting the nation.
"It's for this recognition that in Nasarawa State, we have continued to accord the highest percentages of the budget since our assumption of office for the development of education in our state.
"It, therefore, behooves on us, collectively and individually, to continue to provide an enabling environment for education to thrive in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu," he added.
The Governor pointed out that the giant strides recorded by the university since its establishment in 2011 are an eloquent testimony of the collective determination to work in harmony to conquer societal backwardness.
"As a state poised to change the narrative of cultural, religious, and social impediments to the acquisition of education in the state, we have zero tolerance for illiteracy in all ramifications.
"In our commitment to promoting science and engineering education, we have established the faculty of engineering and the college of medicine as well as health science in our state university in Keffi.
"Similarly, to strengthen the capacity of our youths for productive ventures in the state, we have also established the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Technical Institute, aimed at equipping our youths with the requisite skills and technical knowledge to engage in meaningful ventures for self-reliance," he said.
The Governor urged the management of FULafia to take advantage of the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Technical Institute to engage their students in acquiring skills for self-development.
He added that through the years, successive governments in the state have supported the university through various interventions, including the donation of 200 hectares of land for the permanent site of the university, the donation of the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) to serve as FULafia teaching hospital, among others.
Governor Sule then congratulated the graduates, urging them to view their certificates as more than mere meal tickets.
"In other words, you are leaving this event with your letters of credence as ambassadors of Fulafia to the rest of the world. It behooves on you, therefore, to fly the banner of excellence and integrity which are the motto of your Alma mater," he said.
In his speech, Visitor to the Federal University of Lafia, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, assured that his administration is committed to the pursuit of policies and programs aimed at the sustainable and quality transformation of the educational sector in the country.
President Tinubu said his administration would continue to commit more resources to education to ensure greater access and inclusivity while improving the quality of its products in the pursuit of sustainable national development.
"I am quite aware of the infrastructural deficits in the educational sector, particularly in our public universities. And we are making frantic efforts to overcome these challenges through the full implementation of the budgetary allocation to education in the 2024 fiscal budget," he stated.
Represented at the event by the Acting Executive Secretary of the National University Commission (NUC), Ambassador Christopher Jibrin Maiyaki, the President said the Federal Government is aware that universities may have to seek sources of non-governmental revenue to achieve their mandates.
"My administration will always respond positively to the demands of the universities, knowing fully well that they play a critical role in national development," he said.
President Tinubu used the opportunity of the event to congratulate the Emir of Mubi, HRH Alhaji Dr. Abubakar Isa Ahmadu, on his recent appointment as the Chancellor of the university.
He equally commended successive management teams of the university from its inception till now for the institution's phenomenal achievements in both academic growth and infrastructural development.
"I congratulate FULafia for these gigantic achievements within such a short span. I want to specifically commend the present Vice-Chancellor Prof Shehu Abdul Rahman and all other principal officers and stakeholders and students alike for having worked diligently to nurture an academic culture that has produced the crop of successful graduates we are here to celebrate," he stated.
On his part, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Lafia, Professor Shehu Abdul Rahman, stated that the university has come of age in the last 13 years with the founding of 14 research and resource centers among others to help in the fields of research and resource provision.
The VC said that the university would sustain its support for research, academic activities, and infrastructure development with a view to realizing the purpose of its creation.
“We are working in this university as a team, to make meaningful and sustainable impact, and we're poised to make a difference within the limit of our current fortune," he stated.
He added that, presently, FULafia boasts of a college of medicine, schools of basic and remedial studies, and postgraduate studies, 53 departments, and 12 faculties, making the institution the first choice for many candidates.
Prof Abdul Rahman disclosed that the 6th, 7th, and 8th combined convocation ceremony witnessed the graduation of 6,499 from 52 programs, with 50 students graduating with first-class honors.
