Embrace innovative education, UNILORIN VC tells youths

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof AbdulGaniyu Ambali has challenged Nigerian youths to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship because the type of education that will deliver Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be that which decorates people with certificates, diplomas and degrees.

He made this submission while declaring open the Building Bridges 2015 Conference organised recently by the Junior Chamber International (JCI). The Conference was themed "Change the World: Nigerian Youths in a Post-2015 World".

In his address, entitled "Live Right", Ambali, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), Prof. Y. M. Fakunle, noted that "Nigeria, just like her youths, has always been said to be full of potentials" but asked, "When will the potentials be translated to actual development?"

The Vice-Chancellor, however, pointed out that one thing is certain, which is that "in the post-2015 world, education will remain fundamental. The type of education required will not be the one that would decorate the bearer with certificates, diplomas and degrees but the one that would engender innovation and entrepreneurship".

He added that "this philosophy explains why at the University of Ilorin, our students are being trained not to be job seekers but job providers".

The Vice-Chancellor, who said he was fascinated by the Conference theme, described it as apt and symbolic. "It is apt in the sense that Nelson Mandela once said that education is the most powerful weapon available to change the world and symbolic because just about two months ago, Nigerians massively voted for change and change is here".

Ambali took a cursory look at the post- 2015 Development Agenda and listed them to include: end poverty, achieve gender equity, provide education and life-long learning, ensure healthy lives, ensure food security and good nutrition, achieve universal access to water and environmental sanitation, as well as secure sustainable energy etc. He said that all these cannot be achieved without actively engaging youths who he described as "positive agents of change".

The Vice-Chancellor said, "Youths are the drivers and at the same time the chief beneficiaries of these goals. Therefore, the roles of the youths cannot be over-emphasised in translating the goals to reality".

Ambali further observed that Nigerian youths constitute one of the most dynamic, creative and energetic categories of people in the world and expressed the belief that "if the Nigerian youths live right, do the right things and do things right, they will be in a position to change the world".

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