The importance of the country’s graduates to be equipped with the necessary skills and entrepreneurship to survive the ever-shrinking labour market has been stressed.
The Vice Chancellor (VC) of Al-Hikmah University, Prof Noah Yusuf, stated this on Monday during a press briefing to commence the 13th convocation ceremony of the university.
The Vice President, Sen Kashim Shettima, will deliver the convocation lecture themed: “Addressing Nigeria’s Food Security Challenge through Hi-tech Approach: The role of Nigerian Universities”.
Prof Noah, who called for support towards the amendment of the TETFund Act for more funding of private universities, noted that there was a need to intensify advocacy and lobbying of the relevant stakeholders on the issue.
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He said, “Al-Hikmah graduates won’t be a drain on the nation’s resources. This is because of the environment and the kind of education we provide. That should be the way to go for us as a country; university products should add value and not be a liability to the country.”
The VC added that, “1,583 students will be graduating during the ceremony, consisting of 1,207 undergraduates, 345 post-graduates and 31 diplomas. 26 of them graduated with first class, 472 with second class (upper division), while 600 had second class (lower division), with 109 third class. The university produced 27 Ph.Ds, 2 M.Phil and 211 masters, 105 postgraduate diplomas and 31 diplomas.”
The VC further said the university had also commenced its Qur’anic memorisation centre to produce hafizul Qur’an as a faith-based Islamic institution.
He disclosed that the university would intensify random drug tests for new and returning students to identify and apply necessary sanctions against those affected.
On the issue of security, the VC said the university had keyed into the Safe School Programme with over N300m deployed for fencing of all its campuses and hostels and for additional CCTVs.
