Refineries will bounce back, insecurity will vanish, soon – Tinubu

…Promises lasting solution to nation’s challenges

*As 121 bag First Class as MOUAU graduates 8, 369 students

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

 President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience in the midst of various challenges facing the country, assuring that his administration was working hard to find lasting solutions to the tough times.

Tinubu who was addressing the 11the Convocation ceremony of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Abia State on Saturday, November 25, 2023, assured Nigerians that local refineries would soon bounce back to clean off the suffocating high prices of petroleum products, just as insecurity would soon become history.

“This administration is aware of the myriads of socio-economic and political problems that the citizens of our nation are passing through. We are, however, determined to find a lasting solution to the tough times. Our policy instruments are currently being fine-tuned with the view to dealing firmly with the causes and not the symptoms of the problems. Very soon, some of our local refineries will start production and the current exorbitant prices of fuel energy will be greatly reduced. ..The burden of insecurity is clearly a challenge in Nigeria but I assure you that in no distant time, it will become history.

“Bear with us and remain resolutely in support of this administration as we would leave no stone unturned in reversing the severe hardship that our people are currently passing through,” the Nigerian President said.

Tinubu was represented by the Executive Secretary of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, Prof.  Garba Hamidu Sharubutu at the occasion.

He promised that part of the supplementary budget recently approved by the National Assembly would be applied to bring critical interventions in critical segments of the agricultural sector, saying that as the nation grapples with the challenges of diversifying her economy, Nigeria certainly needs the solid support of her agricultural scientists and experts. “Your technical skills and expertise will continue to be required until we get to the Promised Land where food security is achieved in our nation,” he said.

He, therefore, charged the Universities of Agriculture in the country to innovatively drive the transformation of the agricultural sector to achieve food security and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adding that his administration was committed to strengthening educational institutions to be able to deliver quality education in line with his Renewed Hope Agenda. According to him, “education remains the cardinal principle of national development as well as lasting legacy we can bequeath to the future generations.”

President Tinubu stressed that if Nigeria must enjoy the fruits of researches by universities of Agriculture, the private sector must be uptakers of such research results.

“I therefore encourage the private sector organizations to join hands with Universities of Agriculture in forming  partnerships and linkages to scale up agricultural research findings with a win-win target. I strongly believe that we can become a very strong nation by developing the natural, human and material resources God has endowed us with,” Tinubu said.

He assured of government’s continued support in the provision and improvement of infrastructure in the tertiary institutions and urged the university community to reciprocate government’s efforts by ensuring the sustenance of peaceful and conducive environment necessary for proper teaching and effective learning.

Vice Chancellor of MOUAU, Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, who gave a rundown of the achievements his leadership has recorded in the past two-and-half years, including building infrastructure and securing full accreditation for all the institution’s 57 academic programmes; as well as the challenges facing his administration, prayed the federal government to release take-off grant which the school was yet to receive since 30 years of its existence; reconstitute the school’s Governing Council, relist the five courses delisted about five years ago and grant the school waiver to replenish its depleted staff strength.

Prof. Iwe noted that the last Visitation Panel  the school, recommended that the institution should be given its take-off grant and the delisted courses in the College of Management Sciences, restored.

“The Visitation Panel report of the 2016 – 2020 period on the university clearly stated that the university seems to be the only university that has not benefitted with the take-off grant that will easily allow it to embark on development of its permanent site. It then recommended that the federal government, should, as a matter of necessity, grant the university a take-off grant of about N10 billion for that purpose.

“We want to appeal to the Honourable Minister of Agriculture to assist the university in realizing the release of this fund for the development of the university,” the Vice Chancellor said.

On the relisting of the delisted courses, he said: “May we also remind the government that our university was established to groom students in agriculture and allied subjects, including Management Sciences relevant to Agriculture. We appeal that the government relists that five courses in the College of Management Sciences that were delisted some five years ago. In fact, the report of the last Visitation Panel states the need for the issue of the delisting of the Management Science programmes should be revisited in order to relist the delisted courses by the National Universities Commission, etc. We appeal that government favourably attends to this position of the White Paper in the interest of teaming population of young Nigerians who want to study these courses in our university.”

While making case for a waiver to beef up the staff strength of the university, Prof. Iwe explained that the university was faced with the challenge of achieving the ideal staff-to-student ratio recommended by the National Universities Commission (NUC) due to embargo on employment since 2019. “We are doing our best to contain the situation, however, we appeal to the federal government to permit us to make up for attritions due to death of staff, refusal of our  trainee staff to return after training, retirement of staff, sickness, etc. We need staff at various levels to survive,” he pleaded.

The internationally Certified Food Scientist (CFS) equally appealed to the federal government to reconstitute the Governing Council of the institution, saying that the absence of the supervising body was making taking decisions on sensitive matters and implementation of the Visitation Panel’s recommendations, difficult.

Congratulating the graduating students, Prof. Iwe said: “To our graduands, thank you graciously for coming and I say bravo for successfully emerging from the academic rigours to earn the degree and Postgraduate diploma of this university.

“We have trained you to be professionally competent and confident persons and inculcated in you, morals that make for good citizenship. We urge you to be good ambassadors of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.”

During the Convocation ceremony, 8, 369  graduands were admitted into the university’s first degree and Postgraduate diploma. Of this number, 6, 917 students were awarded Bachelor’s Degree, while 159 graduands were conferred with   Postgraduate Diploma, 802 with Master’s Degree and 491 with Doctorate Degree.

Also, 121 students bagged First Class; 1, 941 made Second Class Honours (Upper Division); 3, 063 with Second Class Honours (Lower Division); 1, 121 with Third Class and six with Pass.

Ikechukwu Nicholas Chukwuka of the Department of Computer Engineering, with 4.90 Cumulative Points Average (CPA), emerged the Best Graduating Student.