Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has admonished graduands of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun, to evolve new methods to address the myriads of problems confronting Nigeria.
Osinbajo made this call while speaking at the 45th Convocation ceremony of the university held at the Amphitheatre, Oduduwa Hall, Ile-Ife, on Saturday.
The vice president reeled out the successes recorded by alumnus of the university over the years, by pioneering a lot of major academic breakthroughs.
According to him, Nigeria is facing insecurity in some parts of the country.
“The access to illegal weaponry by non state actors tells us that we must be smarter in policing the country, using smart drones and surveillance equipment.
“The politicisation of our means of purchase of weapons tells us that we must manufacture our own arms.
“Already, some Nigerian companies led by Profex, a Nigerian company, is already manufacturing APCs and exporting it to several African countries.
“Other companies and government-owned DICON is manufacturing different types of ammunition.
“Yes, the challenges are much, but the means to resolve it and the elements are here already. Young Nigerians are rising to the challenges facing the country.
“It is, however, said, right here in Ife, that it is effective economic planning and even more, effective implementation that can help us to avoid a disaster and make phenomenal progress.
“And so, our national development plan 2021-2025, is an attempt to chart a path for the future; the future belongs far more to you graduands, so, you need to pay more attention to it,” Osinbajo said.
Ondo State Governor, Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu also delivered a Convocation Lecture entitled: “When is a Nation?: Exploring the Socio-Political Crises in Post Independence Nigeria”.
According to Akeredolu, all states in the country were blessed with mineral resources, such as gold and petroleum, among others.
He noted that no citizen would be happy with any government cheating them on their valuable goods.
Akeredolu urged the state governments to gear up and maintain the natural resources that abound in their respective states for the prosperity of their citizens.
Warning all non-indigenes to desist from prioritising what does not belong to them, Akeredolu urged the Federal Government to give each state the freedom to operate at the state level on their mineral resources.
Akeredolu also called on the leaders to make a way of uniting together and out all hands on deck to fighting the challenges of insecurity, kidnapping, rituals killings, unemployment and banditry.
“Nigeria must confront all challenges with unrelenting zeal until solutions appear in the horizon,” Akeredolu said.
Also speaking at the event was the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the university Governing Council, Owelle Udoji who urged the university management to look inward and scale up its contributions toward improving the society.
Udoji stated that the bane of most African universities is inadequate funding, urging OAU to find new ways of generating income to support cutting-edge research.
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede, charged the graduands to positively impact the various sectors of the Nigeria economy.
He implore them to help in resolving the challenges facing the nation as they step into the next phase in their individual lives and career pursuits.
Ogunbodede congratulated the graduands and their families for the grace given to them to successfully completed their academic programmes in flying colours.
The university conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa and Honorary Doctor of Business Administration on Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, the Founder, Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin in Ondo State.