I am pleased to be here for the 9th Founder’s
Day and 10th Anniversary of the founding of this
university, the American University of Nigeria,
Yola. I welcome all of you who are attending
these events, despite your busy schedules and
the very difficult security circumstances in
Nigeria, especially the North East, including
Adamawa State. I thank our keynote speaker Dr
William Bertrand of Tulane University for
honouring the University’s invitation to share his
thoughts with us.
Ten years ago I, with help from my friends,
established this university to provide world-
class, American style education in Nigeria to
serve students from Nigeria and Africa. It was
sited here in Yola, in north east Nigeria, a region
in need of good quality education and jobs. It
was the first private university to be established
in northern Nigeria and the first American-style
university to be established in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
Why American style education?
My encounter with American Peace Corps
volunteer teachers in rural Adamawa exposed me
to American-style education, which I found quite
appealing mainly because of what I saw as its
emphasis on critical reasoning, student-
participation, and problem-solving. Thus when I
decided to establish an Academy, comprising
kindergarten to Secondary School levels, I chose
American-style education. And I wanted to build
a university whose graduates will be ready to
face the world with those attributes.
Those of you who were here on October 25,
2004 for the ground-breaking ceremony for this
university will attest to the breathtaking physical
changes that have taken place on this campus,
especially the provision of physical facilities. The
initial student enrollment in September 2005,
when academic activities commenced, was 124
students, with20 professors. In the current
academic session AUN and the Academy have
1402 enrolled students, 95 faculty members and
1248 non-academic staff. A recent study
indicates that AUN contributes to the local
economy to the tune of up to 100 million dollars
annually, i.e. about 160 million naira, thereby
positively touching the lives of many.
I express my profound appreciation for the
painstaking work of the founding faculty,
administrators, staff and the pioneering
students. Without them we would not be here
today. They made enormous sacrifices and they
persevered to nurture this dream to the
emerging reality that it is today. In particular, I
thank Professors Dr. David Huwiler, the founding
President of this university and his team as well
as Professor Michael Smith, who succeeded him,
for their courage and immense sacrifices and
commitment to building this university. They
took a chance on us to come to the middle of
nowhere, as it were, and began the arduous task
and process of changing the face of Yola and
Nigeria through this citadel of learning. I also
thank all those who have served in the Board of
Trustees over the years for their sacrifices.
Ten years is a good period to take stock, re-
strategize and rededicate ourselves for the task
of building this university for the next ten years.
And I am sure that you will all play your part. For
me this occasion is perhaps a good one to make
a statement on private education in Nigeria,
which has received significant attention in recent
years.
A Place for Private Education:
There is a place for private education in all
modern societies, and for good reasons.
1. Western formal education, in its origins
was private. Indeed in Nigeria, Western
education was private, having been
introduced into the country by Christian
missionaries who went on to build
schools across the country. Public
education came later in order to ensure
universal access and the removal of
impediments to rapid human resources
and societal development. Many
commentators who have inveighed
against private education in Nigeria have
forgotten these facts.
2. Choice in education and other human
affairs is a good thing. In education one
size does not fit all. Variety is necessary
to meet differing needs, address specific
priorities in local areas, and fill specific
niches and specializations. Think about
this: food is such a basic human
necessity, yet no one would make the
absurd suggestion that government
should run a chain of restaurants across
the country to feed everyone who needs
to eat.
3. Competition is good and private
education is one way to introduce
healthy competition in the education
sector to ensure needed improvements
overall. Competition breeds creativity,
innovation and greater efficiency and
effectiveness in service delivery.
4. Innovation is good. Private schools tend
to be smaller than public schools. They
tend to be more nimble and innovative
and adapt to changes quickly because
decision making tends to be quicker in
order to serve students and the
community better. They are also often
run with more business principles even
if, as in the case of AUN, they are not
for profit. In the case of AUN, for
instance, we made a conscious decision
not to overstretch ourselves by trying to
duplicate what the public universities
were already doing which is to offer
every imaginable discipline. We chose to
focus on three core areas, namely Arts
and Sciences, Business and
Entrepreneurship, and Information
Technology and Communications. We
understood the challenges posed by
limited resources and the rapid changes
informational and communication
technologies and quickly adopted e-
learning and e-library. And from inception
all our students were issued with laptops
to facilitate teaching and learning in this
changing environment. Public universities
in Nigeria surely have a thing or two to
learn from private universities and vice
versa.
5. Private schools are needed to
complement government efforts in
providing education in the country.
Private education cannot and should not
be a substitute for government efforts
at providing universal access to good
quality education for the populace. It is
and should be for those who desire it. In
the case of universities, the private ones
came into being as government
increasingly became unable to provide
university spaces for the growing
population of qualified applicants. In fact,
it took several years of struggle before
the first private university in Nigeria –
Igbinedion University, Okada – was
allowed to operate. While speaking here
on October 25, 2004, just before he
broke ground for the building of this
university, President Olusegun Obasanjo
noted that this University is one of the
series of private universities that have
been established in Nigeria in the years
following the deregulation of the sector.
This, to him, wasin line with the
government’s efforts to deregulate
Nigeria’s economy and unleash our
people’s entrepreneurial spirit. President
Obasanjo expressed satisfaction that
Nigerians were answering the
government’s call to invest in different
sectors of our economy, including
education. He went on to say that the
massive investments made in education
and other areas during our oil boom
years were almost exclusively made by
Government. That was no longer
possible as government alone cannot
meet all of our growing educational
needs. Therefore, going forward, the
private sector would have to play a very
significant role in education in Nigeria if
our people’s educational needs are to be
met and if education is to contribute
optimally to our national development.
I


http://atiku.org/2015/news_events/private-education-and-nigerias-development/

Berem, I dey suspect you with this Atiku man ooo. Na duplex you want? You've made me to go soft on him but not enough for my vote. I'm not recommending him either; but I can now tolerate him.

kITATITA:
Berem, I dey suspect you with this Atiku man ooo. Na duplex you want? You've made me to go soft on him but not enough for my vote. I'm not recommending him either; but I can now tolerate him.

When you see something good,recommend it. He's also a good presidential material and he has done well in job creation and education.

how are you?

berem:
When you see something good,recommend it. He's also a good presidential material and he has done well in job creation and education.

how are you?

I'm doing good darling. Atiku is unassailable in job creation. But I can't get to trust him. His political identity has no philosophical direction and not rooted in any ideology or principles other than personal zeal. Buhari is still my man.

kITATITA:

I'm doing good darling. Atiku is unassailable in job creation. But I can't get to trust him. His political identity has no philosophical direction and not rooted in any ideology or principles other than personal zeal. Buhari is still my man.

And how do you mean by personal zeal? is it possible to take that out from a political ambition?

berem:
And how do you mean by personal zeal? is it possible to take that out from a political ambition?

He bounces on and off the PDP any time his quest for presidency appears elusive as if his life depends on it. He could leave the APC to another party of he fails to get the nomination. The presidency doesn't seem to mean anything other than, 'na my own'.

kITATITA:


He bounces on and off the PDP any time his quest for presidency appears elusive as if his life depends on it. He could leave the APC to another party of he fails to get the nomination. The presidency doesn't seem to mean anything other than, 'na my own'.

So what would you say about Rochas who bounces on and off political parties to vye for presidency. Would you say he doing that for personal gains?

berem:
So what would you say about Rochas who bounces on and off political parties to vye for presidency. Would you say he doing that for personal gains?

Yes. Rochas is all hot air; words. His eloquence mitigates his lack of substance.

kITATITA:


Yes. Rochas is all hot air; words. His eloquence mitigates his lack of substance.

without mincing words,i think both men fall into the same category.

Let the primaries decide anyway. All we want is change.

Exactly. In politics there should be honour. In the 60s, the Action Congress invited Zik's NCNC to form an alliance in which Zik would be Prime Minister but he declined and his party formed alliance with the NPC with Tafawa Balewa as PM. Also in 1998, Ekwueme was the most popular politician and highly respected. His G34 formed the basis for today's PDP. After he lost the primaries to Obasanjo, he declined entreaties to contest under another party. That's honour. Ditto Olu Falae who was being courted by several parties. Obasanjo has refused to leave PDP despite all the humiliation he received. It shouldn't be about position, there should be honour and the main attraction should be service.

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