Following the economical crisis and level of hardship in the country, Babatunde Odufuwa, the Chancellor of Southwestern University, Okun Owa, Ogun State, said growth and development will reduce poverty and unemployment in Nigeria.
Odufuwa who spoke during the third convocation of the university, held at Okun Owa, Odogbolu, Ogun State, maintained that the development of the economy was important because it would create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives.”
He revealed this during the third convocation of the university, held at Okun Owa, Odogbolu, Ogun State, adding that the development of the economy was important because it would create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives.
He said, “Economic growth and development are fundamental to impacting the living standards of citizens.
“Development is not just a high growth rate in per capital income because it is possible to record a high growth rate in per capital income while the masses of the people continue to be in abject poverty and lacking in necessities of life, such as the situation in Nigeria today.
“Development and growth must be a sustained effort to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives.”
Odufuwa urged the Federal Government to focus on the economic growth and development of the country for human capital development.
Prof. Amusa Adetunji, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, pleaded to graduating students to be agents of impact and also a good examples to the society.
While speaking, Dr John Abolurin, an academic and a former Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, stated that education played a vital role in shaping the future of a nation.
Abolurin said, “Education is a weapon for meaningful change, revolution, and orientation. The level of development in most developing nations and countries of the world is largely attributed to education; hence, a nation’s ability to thrive and compete globally is inextricably linked to the quality of its educational system.”
He also urged the graduates to invest in knowledge and do their best to have an edge.
439 students were conferred with Bachelor’s degrees from the Faculty of Social and Management Science and Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, at the convocation ceremony, while two were conferred with postgraduate degrees.
Personalities, such as the wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun; CEO/Chairman, Loatsad Promomedia, Mr Seyi Tinubu; and the Managing Director, Upperlink, Mr Olusegun Akano, were conferred with the Doctor of Science Degree Honoris Causa in Business Administration, Mass Communication and Computer Science respectively for their numerous contributions to higher education in Nigeria.
