The Borno State Governor, Babangida Zulum, yesterday called on the country’s faith-based universities to produce graduates trained in spirituality and morality.
He said this is necessary to bail Nigeria out of its current moral decadence of corruption and social vices.
Zulum called while delivering the 20th anniversary lecture of the pioneer Islamic faith-based university in Nigeria, the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State.
He spoke on the theme, ” Two decades of excellence: Al-Hikmah University’s impact on scholarship and educational development in Nigeria.
The governor urged Nigerian youths to imbibe the culture of humility and hard work.
Zulum, who said he was the son of a peasant farmer and a commercial driver who was plying Maiduguri-Okene-Ibadan roads, advised youths to imbibe the culture of respect for parents, sacrifice for humanity and love for hard work.
The governor also said that shortcuts to anything usually end in regret and disaster, adding that “hard work is good, but humility takes you far in life”.
“Hard work is one thing. But humility is the best. When I finished my master’s, I went to my village to go to the farm with my parents. I could have remained in Maiduguri wearing barbarian, but because I have to be obedient to my parents, that is why I am what I am today”, he said.
In his address at the university’s 20th-anniversary dinner/award night, the vice-chancellor, Professor Noah Yusuf, said that the most pressing challenge of the university is inadequate funds.
Yusuf also said that the spiral effect of the funding challenge is the university’s inability to meet some critical needs.
He appealed for support from friends of the university in the construction of hostels to be endowed after the donor’s name, construction of Faculty building, joint construction of classrooms and offices, scholarship grants to indigent students and research funding for academic staff of the university.
Also speaking, the former governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Masari, described the founder of Al-Hikmah University, Dr. AbdulRaheem Oladimeji, as a great contributor to quality education in Nigeria.
Masari said Oladimeji has meaningfully impacted Nigerian youths’ lives through his education investment.