Only education can place Nigeria in rightful place — KWASU VC

Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, the Vice-Chancellor of Kwara State University at Malete near Ilorin, says only education and knowledge can put Nigeria in its rightful place globally.
Na’Allah said this on Saturday at the KWASU International Conference Centre during his valedictory news briefing as the institution’s outgoing vice chancellor.
The vice-chancellor said what the country needed to progress were knowledge and solutions, which Nigerian universities could proffer to existing problems.
He said it was high time Nigerian universities lived up to the expectations of proffering solutions to problems.
Na’Allah said: “Education is the only means to place our nation where it should be and this is what our universities are established for.
“They should be able, through their research, find solutions to the numerous problems confronting us as a nation.”
He added that it was in line with finding solutions to Nigeria’s problems that KWASU decided not to walk but fly when it was established 10 years ago.
He said: “We started as a baby 10 years ago, but we didn’t walk, nor run.
“We were flying because we want to catch up, since we discovered that Nigeria is lagging behind in so many ways.
“We started different programmes that can make us unique and at the same time be a solution to Nigeria’s problems through our research.
“We are the first and only university offering Aeronautical Engineering in Nigeria and, with this course, we have already won a Federal Government grant of N21 million to develop drones to fight pipeline vandalism.
“Also, we offer entrepreneurship course that is compulsory for all students because we wanted our products to hit the ground running in creating wealth once they graduate.
“These are some of the courses we do because KWASU sees itself as a solution university.”
Na’Allah said the school has recorded many achievements in spite of its challenges, with the major challenge being the stopping of subvention to the school by the state government for five years.
He said: “It is no longer news that our subvention has been stopped by the past administration for five years now, but we didn’t see it as a challenge.
“Rather, we stepped up our game.
“We survived by introducing a lot of programmes that can boost our Internally Generated Revenue and I can say this has helped a lot.
“So, if we can achieve this much without subvention for five years, I am hopeful that when our subvention is restored, we will double these achievements.”
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Na’Allah is the pioneer vice-chancellor of KWASU, appointed since the institution’s inception in 2009.
He will complete a two-term tenure of 10 years by the end of July.
Na’Allah has however been appointed the vice-chancellor of University of Abuja.