The Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, FAS, has identified Alumni Associations as indispensable partners in the growth, development and advancement of academic institutions as well as education at any level.
Speaking in his office on Monday, July 4, 2022, while playing host to representatives of the Federal College of Education, Yola, Adamawa State Alumni Association Worldwide, Prof. Ogundipe described the task of advancing the course of qualitative and quantitative education in Nigeria as one which cannot and should not be left to the government alone.
Prof. Ogundipe recalled what obtains in renowned tertiary institutions and Ivy League universities across the world where the body of old students are major financiers of capital-intensive projects, programmes and endowments, a feat he identified as the cornerstone of the sustained milestones and retainership of top ratings by those institutions.
The Vice-Chancellor used the avenue to commend the UNILAG Alumni Association worldwide, the home base (UNILAG) Chapter and those in the diaspora for their constant contributions, inputs, supports and donations towards various infrastructural and developmental programmes, projects, endowments and initiatives on campus, a feat he said, must be sustained for continued development of the University.
While bemoaning the level of all-round decadence in many public institutions in Nigeria, one he hinged on the absence of managements’ autonomy, Prof. Ogundipe challenged Alumni bodies across all levels of education in Nigeria to take queues from Old Students’ bodies in developed countries as a way of rescuing public education in Nigeria from the quagmires and charting a course for development.
The visit by the Representatives of the Federal College of Education, Yola, Adamawa State Alumni Association Worldwide was to invite Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, FAS, to its debut Reunion/Convention and Launch of its Magazine scheduled to hold from Friday, July 29, 2022 to Sunday, July 31, 2022, at Radisson Blu Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
The 3-day Convention, according to the Leader of the delegation, Pastor Marian Dayo Ekong, holds with the theme: “Our Bond, Our Togetherness” with focus on educational development in Nigeria.
In his response, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, FAS, commended the rank and file of the Federal College of Education, Yola, Adamawa State Alumni Association Worldwide for focusing its maiden reunion on educational development especially at trying seasons as this when the ongoing industrial action by all University Staff Unions have dragged for so long.
