NBA President, Idigbe, ABC Orjiako Pull Weight Behind Dominican University at Fundraising Dinner
Dominican University, a newly licensed institution that came into being from the position of strength, having had excellent facilities and human resources in place, and guided by the Dominican philosophy of education which is that of developing potentials in students, recently hosted a fundraising dinner in Lagos.
Located in a quiet and pleasant hilltop of the Education Layout Samonda, Sango, UI Road in Ibadan, Oyo State, the University in her barely 7 months of existence is built to assist Nigeria in achieving greatness in her potentials and promote excellence in character and learning
The event drew several dignitaries from all works of life, including catholic archbishops, business leaders and Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) led by the Fundraising Dinner’s Keynote Speaker and President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud; Chairman of the Fundraising Planning Committee, Chief Anthony Idigbe, and the chairman of the fundraising dinner, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde. Other dignitaries are: Former Anambra governor Peter Obi; Dominican University Fundraising Committee Chairman, ABC Orjiako; Captain Val Tongo; Mike Igbokwe, SAN; Tunde Busari, SAN; Seni Adio, SAN; Retired Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie; His Grace, Felix Alaba Job, Archbishop Emeritus of Ibadan and Chairman Board of Trustees; Vice Chancellor, Prof. Fr. Anthony Akinwale, OP; Provincial Superior of Dominicans, Rev. Fr. Richard Ogedengbe, OP; His Grace, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, etc.
In his keynote address, the NBA President, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) blamed the deplorable state of public universities to a faulty federal system.
He called for reform to give states and local governments more control over public education.
According to him, today’s public universities are a shadow of themselves and require “heavy investment” by the government.
Reliving his university days, Mahmoud said he not only ate in a very clean and well managed cafeterias, it was always a joy to be at the new arrival section of the university library for the latest publications from around the world.
“The university experience was dignified and conducive to learning and character formation. As a student, I could even afford to buy newspaper periodically. Not anymore. Nigerian public universities are now a shadow of what they used to be.”
Mahmoud recalled that when he assumed office as Pro-Chancellor of the Kano University of Science and Technology, he visited the hostels and was shocked to find a “most undignified existence”, with 12 students living in a room meant for 3.
“The sanitary conditions were appalling, the entire corridors were littered with kerosene stoves and cooking pots for preparing what would hardly pass as decent meals by the students.”
“For most, life on campus was a dreadful experience,” he said, adding that the situation describes the state of public universities across the country.
He also decried inconsistent policies on education and a dysfunctional federal structure.
“Education, it is argued, should be purely a state and probably local government affair. Undoubtedly, Nigerian federal system is convoluted and in need of reform.”
“Nigeria’s federal system will benefit so much from decentralisation and will assist in making public institutions more functional, more responsive and more efficient,” he said.
The NBA President said, “In order to match and surpass the rest of Africa, if we must retain our leadership on the continent, the government must invest heavily in education. Any spending that is less than 10 per cent of total share of GDP in my view is not ambitious,” he said.
According to Mahmoud, “There is enormous room for private sector investment in education, through public-private and private-private partnerships. Other interventions could be through partnerships, scholarships, grants and endowments.” He concluded.
Former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi who is Dominican University’s Governing Council chairman, said, Nigeria’s education budget was one of the worst globally.
“The more educated a country is, the more the people grow and better the society. We have to invest in education to better our country,” he said.
Obi believes the money is there; the problem was the misplaced priority. “We need to get people in government to invest money where we need investment, and that is in education,” he said.
“The world is moving away from ‘baggage economy to knowledge economy’, and we must move with it,” the former governor emphasized.
Obi said between 2010 and 2014, Nigeria’s budget on education was N1.8 trillion (about $11billion); in 2015/2016, it was N761billion (about $2.1billion).
“Over seven years, our budget for education was $13.2billion. South Africa’s budget for education in 2015 was $15.4bilion, and they’re 55 million while we’re 186 million. Egypt’s budget on education was $13billion, with a population of 95million.”
“Our budget is not up to one per cent of our GDP. It’s totally unacceptable. We need to do something very aggressively. Nigeria does not see education as an investment but as an expense,” he said.
The chairman of the fundraising dinner, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), said, quality education is an expensive venture. Therefore, we should all do what we can to assist the Dominican University Ibadan to meet up with the lofty standard that the university has set for itself.
The learned silk said, “There is nothing wrong with assisting institutions in the cadre of Dominican. The guests who saw the NBA President and other lawyers might think we are doing this because we are lawyers, but it is because we can be a bit vocal that is why you think we are many here, it’s just a few of us around to support the Catholic Church who have set up this university,” Ayorinde affirmed.
Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), who is the chairman of the Fundraising Planning Committee, said he was involved in the fundraising project of Dominican University because he loved education and wanted to do what he could to assist in helping a good institution.
“I think the Dominican have some experience and tradition long before now particularly abroad, providing tertiary education. So I think they are quite ideal to support. There is a funding gap in education in this country, the government can not do everything, and the private sectors somehow have to be involved to give support. But the idea of doing it for business or for profit is not very exciting to me,” Idigbe said.
As guests were enjoying their evening, money was raised by Dr. ABC Orjiako, who was the chairman of the fundraising committee.
The conviction that solid education should integrate excellence in teaching and research methods with formation of the character of students, it’s the belief of the Dominican University that good education should produce responsible leaders and citizens.
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