Don advocates economy diversification as panacea to attain Vision 2020

A University Don, Prof. Mike Faborode, has advised Nigeria to combine use of large manufacturers and Small and Medium Enterprises, in order to tackle unemployment and attain its vision 2020.

He also described the embrace of industrial production as a compelling logical way forward for the Nigeria Economy.

He said this during the combined fourth and fifth convocation ceremony of Osun State University, Osogbo, on Monday.

Faborode who is the Secretary-General, Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC), spoke on “Sustainable Tertiary Education in Post-oil Nigeria”.

He identified research, new knowledge/innovation and partnerships as keys to unlocking the inherent potentials of the Nigerian university system.

Faborode, who is the former Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, stressed that Nigerian higher education system and the nation itself are at cross-roads, maintaining that there is need to build an effective platform and alliance for the revitalization of the system.

He expressed worried over the persistence decline in the price of crude oil and the sluggishness in the diversification of the economy to embrace more productive sectors.

Faborode insisted that diversification of economy to sectors like manufacturing, agriculture is the inevitable way forward.

“Nigeria’s brand of manufacturers and MSMEs, turning our large array of natural resources into semi-manufacturers and finished products, in order to decisively tackle unemployment, youth hopelessness and mass poverty.

“If we can succeed in navigating past the seemingly difficult point of inflection, we can well be assured that Nigeria’s Vision 2020 is indeed attainable and can be surpassed.

The Chairman of the occasion, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said the university was founded to be a self sustaining, development oriented and innovative institution.

Oyinlola who is the former Governor of Osun state and founder of the university, said “as the pioneer Visitor of this institution, we believed then that a day might come when petrol dollar would no longer be available to fund government expenditure hence certain innovations in public education financing was introduced particularly for this university.

“We said then that we were setting a goal for this institution to produce a Nobel laureate within its first 25 years.

“We were not under any illusion that a poorly funded university would achieve that great feat, hence those early decisions to set this university apart from others across the country that have remained eternally attached to the feeding bottle of public funds.

“It is my strong belief that the road to a future of economic prosperity for Nigeria can only be paved with education provided in the right quality. And, to get quality education for a future of fulfillment for Nigeria, the nagging question of how to fund it in a sustainable manner must be answered.