President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the Nigerian universities to take advantage of the Federal Government’s interventions to boost research activities.
Buhari spoke on Saturday during the 5th and 6th combined convocation of the Federal University, Dutsin-Ma.
The president, represented by Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, the Minister of State for Education, said research activities were aimed to produce the manpower required to bring about economic development.
He added that they should explore the opportunities provided by the Federal Government in the area of economic diversification agenda.
He explained that the opportunities were designed to wean the country from over dependence on oil in order to achieve sustainable economic development.
“There is need for FUDMA to take advantage of the agrarian environment of Katsina State by liaising with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Water Resources to promote dry-season farming.
”This will provide employment opportunities and other economic benefits,” he said.
Restating the commitment of the Federal Government to sustain funding of university education in the country, President Buhari.
Earlier in his address, King Jaja of Opobo, who is the Chancellor of the University, Dandeson Douglas-Jaja, urged the graduates to be good ambassadors of the country wherever they found themselves.
He advised them to take advantage of the Federal Government’s huge opportunities to become self-employed and employers of labour rather than chasing white collar jobs.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Armaya’u Hamisu-Bichi, said that 90 of the graduating students were for Masters/Post Graduates degrees while 1,201 were for Bachelor’s degrees.
He said that the university had offered automatic employment to the the only PHD graduate among them.
The Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmuminu Kabir-Usman, and King Jaja of Opobo were conferred with honorary Doctorate degrees on the occasion.
(NAN).
