UNN Founders Day: Don makes case for Alumni-University partnership
Participants at the event (Photo by Gideon Arinze)
By Gideon Arinze
A professor of Biochemistry, Chiemeka Chilaka has said that partnership between the Alumni Association and the University of Nigeria will foster Sustainable Development in the institution
Chilaka made this known during the Dignity of man lecture organized by the University to mark her 58th Founders Day celebration with the theme: The University of Nigeria and Alumni: A new Paradigm in Sustainable Partnership.
According to him, it has become obvious that the Federal government cannot fully provide funds for the University to run its administration which is why there seem to be a slowed pace of development both In terms of infrastructure and academics generally.
He recalled that there were times when the University received huge funding from the Federal government to run its academic activities effectively but regretted that the situation has since changed, especially with the implementation of the structural adjustment programme of 1985’
He called on the Association to take bold steps in other to salvage the University system from its dwindling state as according to him; a University will not be competitive if its Alumni Association does not function optimally.
Earlier in his address, the Vice-chancellor of the University, Prof. Benjamin Ozumba said that the Alumni Association of the University has consistently and devotedly committed its time and energy to the growth and development of the University.
He remarked that the University for the first time is occupying a prestigious position in the map of not only African Universities but world Universities, adding that this achievement would not have been possible without the continued support of the Staff and students of the University and the Alumni Association
According to him, the Association has taken a cue from its peers in other first generation Universities as it is, for the first time in the history of the University performing a ground breaking ceremony to signal the beginning of a construction of a befitting Alumni building on the campus.
“There is no doubt that this is the right approach in engaging with the University as is the practice in Universities of note all over the world” he said adding that the conducive environment created by the present administration of this great institution has no doubt provided a fertile background for tolerance and trust above ethnic, religious ideological and sectional segregation especially among the Association.
