Transcript The Right Course

THE RIGHT
COURSE
Text of the Welcome Address delivered by the Vice-Chancellor,
University of Ilorin, Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, on the Occasion of the
Opening Ceremony of the 24th Conference of the Association of
Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU 2009) hosted by
the University of Ilorin on Tuesday June 2, 2009 at the University
Auditorium
2nd June, 2009
THE RIGHT COURSE
On behalf of the Council, Management, Senate,
staff and students of the University of Ilorin, our
esteemed and peaceful University that always in a
state of harmony, I welcome you most sincerely to
this occasion. We consider it a privilege that our
University is honoured by this distinguished
Association to host this Conference again, having
hosted it earlier in 1992. It is our hope and prayer
that as you arrived here in peace, we shall have
fruitful deliberations and we shall all return in peace.
The purpose for which we are all here gathered is not
far-fetched. It is for the 24th conference of our
Association themed “21st Century Education in
Nigeria: Strides, Challenges and Pathways” and it is
mainly to turn round the fortune of education
especially at the higher level in our beloved country.
Towards achieving this purpose, a relatively busy
schedule lies ahead of us after this ceremony as we
exchange ideas, debate issues, map out strategies,
discuss challenges, identify problems and suggest
solutions to the urgent need of bringing our education
to where it is supposed to be. I am very sure that we
have all it takes to make Nigeria greater through our
collective commitment to playing our part and doing
our best in doing so.
The role of education in the development of any
society is fundamental because the development of
any society, any nation, is dependent on the
human capital within the framework of which
education is critical. Without education, without
knowledge, all efforts at development are
inconsequential and void. The thick line that
demarcates development from underdevelopment
is education. To move the nation forward and to
meet up with the enormous 21st century
challenges, education has to be accorded its
rightful priority. This is the right course and this is
why we, the gown and the town, are all gathered.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I said
yesterday when the Governor of Kwara State, Dr.
Bukola Saraki hosted us, that the essence of
education is the development of our three h’s: the
head, the heart and the hands. These three
domains are what specialists would refer to as the
cognitive, affective and psycho-motor components
of learning. In other words, education is the process
of developing one’s mental alertness, regulating
and improving one’s attitudes and behaviours as
well all acquiring skills with which things can be
done. The need of combining these three has been
emphasised by Goethe
who noted that “knowing is not enough, we must
apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do.” At the
University of Ilorin, part of our efforts in ensuring
and assuring the all-round development of the h’s
informed our establishment, within the last one
year, of such centres as Technical and
Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC), Centre for
Research, Development and In-House Training
(CREDIT) and Centre for International Education
(CIE) among others.
Besides, a short reflection on the thrust of the
national educational goals and objectives {viz (a) the
inculcation of national consciousness and national
unity; (b) the inculcation of the right type of values
and attitudes for the survival of individuals and the
Nigerian society; (c) the training of the mind in the
understanding of the world around; and (d) the
acquisition of the appropriate skills, abilities and
competencies both mental and physical as
equipment for the individual to live in and contribute
to the development of the society} will reveal the
connection of such goals to the triple h’s. While the
extent
to
which
our
educational
system
harmoniously blends these domains to shape what
we think, what we feel and what we do may still
leave much to be desired for a number of factors, it
is gratifying to note that we are on the right course.
I say we are on the right course because the Federal
Government is now giving higher education its
deserved attention and one cannot but commend the
Yar’Adua administration on this major achievement.
As a beneficiary University of the recent intervention
by the Federal Government through the injection of
N47 billion in the system to assure quality and
upgrade teaching/research activities, I on behalf of all
of us, including those among us who will later benefit
from such and those we are benefitting on their
behalf, thank and appreciate the Federal
Government through the Honourable Minister of
Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, during whose tenure this
landmark intervention is witnessed. Honourable
Minister Sir, while you kindly accept my appreciation,
I still use this medium, like Oliver Twist, to cry for
more of such intervention in our educational system.
The triple h’s I earlier referred to would logically
inform our desire to make this conference a
confluence of triple stakeholders: the Government,
the Academia and the Industry. It is perhaps easy
to find a connection in how the government as the
head of the people can make the academia, the
…
heart of development, more functional as the
industry also lends its hand of support as the enduser or potential user of the academic activities. As
the Yoruba would say that “ikoko meta kii da obe
nu” (‘the triple point heathen does not spill the soup
pot’), I welcome you triple stakeholders to this
important Conference.
Lastly, while many issues have been lined up
for discussion today and the rest of the
Conference, which constitute part of the vision
of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of
Nigerian Universities (AVCNU), let me conclude
by urging us to take heed from the Japanese
proverb, “vision without action is a daydream.
Action without vision is a nightmare.” I believe
we shall leave the University of Ilorin after this
Conference without daydream or nightmare.
Thank you very much for your attention and
once again,
YOU ARE WELCOME