Don Advocates Review Of Opportunities In Public Varsities To Include Private

Prof. Amidu Olalekan Sanni has advocated a reappraisal of opportunities successful nationalist universities to beryllium extended to backstage and religion-oriented universities.

Sanni made this advocacy portion delivering the 111th inaugural lecture of Lagos State University titled: “The Odyssey of a Theorist successful Arabic-Islamic Scholarship: The Pain, The Gain and The Twain.”

He stated that the assemblage strategy successful Nigeria is regulated by the aforesaid body, the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the products of the system, beryllium they from nationalist oregon backstage institutions, are trained with the aforesaid approved curricula.

According to him, this makes inter-university transportation possible, adding that backstage universities are besides required to uphold the aforesaid cosmopolitan standards successful learning and quality for them to acceptable into vocation and employment markets.

He stated further that the argumentation of making acquisition accessible done the National Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) should beryllium liberalised for students of some nationalist and backstage institutions.

He besides argued that world unit of backstage universities arsenic lend to boosting the illustration of the Nigerian academe and should truthful payment from fiscal and infrastructural assistance specified arsenic offered by TETFund, among others.

Prof. Sanni argued further that the Times Higher Education (THE) satellite ranking of Nigerian universities implicit the past fewer years has consistently confirmed the outstanding show of the backstage assemblage strategy implicit nationalist universities, including the first-generation universities.

“The 2025 ranking, for example, indicates that 2 of the champion 5 ranked universities successful 2025 are private, beating the University of Ibadan to the 4th place,” helium said.

The Professor of African and Middle East Studies besides advocated that grade programmes successful Arabic should see coding and operation with different subjects and skills.

He added that it should besides integrate online courses and certification, concern and enactment skills, connection and collaboration skills, affectional intelligence, and nationalist speaking and presentations.

According to him, the Diploma successful Arabic and Islamic Studies which was tally by Lagos State University but discontinued aft the Ibadan acquisition and the nonaccomplishment of outer affiliation by backstage Arabic centres should beryllium reintroduced and repackaged successful effect to caller realities.

He suggested that Lagos State University, successful collaboration with different universities, tin get the Association of Arab Universities, the OIC, ICESCO, and different taste agencies successful the Arab satellite and section philanthropists to institutionalise afloat scholarships for grade programmes successful Arabic successful operation with antithetic skills and different entrepreneurial oregon innovation programmes.

Prof. Sanni arsenic commended the Federal Government of Nigeria’s inaugural for the conscious effort astatine bridging the spread betwixt the younker and the employment marketplace done the Nigerian Youth Academy (NIYA) strategy which was inaugurated connected the 24th of March 2025.

“The inaugural is intended to guarantee that each younker has astatine slightest 2 skills wrong 2 years specified that astir 5 cardinal younker would person been fixed the accidental of acquiring a sustainable engagement implicit a five-year period. I suggest the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) enrollees should beryllium the archetypal beneficiaries of the programme for the ceremonial assemblage portion artisans with assorted skills beryllium the beneficiaries from the informal sector,” Prof. Sanni said.

He truthful called for much learning, research, and teaching facilities to beryllium provided, fixed the demography of the young ones seeking post-secondary education. He added that the proliferation of nationalist oregon authorities universities nether outer oregon self-induced governmental pressures alternatively than improving the capacities of the existing ones is apt to beryllium counterproductive successful our quest for nationalist development.