Commissioner for Information and Communications Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, representing Rivers State Governor Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi at the first convocation Lectures Veritas University Obehie, Ukwa West Local Government Area, Abia State
The Rivers State Governor, Rt.
Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has described universities as the bedrock of
economic change. The Governor who was represented by Commissioner for
Information and Communications Mrs. Ibim Semenitari made this statement
recently while delivering a Convocation Lecture, titled “ANCHORS OF
CHANGE”, at the first convocation ceremony for the award of First
Degrees, at the Veritas University Obehie, Ukwa West Local Government
Area, Abia State.
According to him “universities
are unique organizations which are the only institutions with scale and
local connectedness to drive economic growth and shape the destiny of
nations and their people. Amaechi noted that, besides the grooming of
men and women in character and learning, universities provide the avenue
for discourse and innovation, adding “for us in Nigeria, our
universities laid the bedrock first for our independence and then our
democracy. Great nationalists like Chief Abafemi Awolowo the great Dr.
Nnamdi Azikiwe of Africa amongst others became bastions of democracy
because of their university education” she cited. He stressed that, as
anchor institutions, colleges and universities can connect knowledge to
action to produce social change while educating the next diverse
generation of civically engaged talent.
The Governor said, “as the
financial support structures that drive local economies and influence
development in societies like ours appears to whittle down, the role of
universities as anchors becomes more important.” The Governor also
insisted that as we face eroding values in a situation, where all our
institutions including the most revered of them appear to be failing us,
our universities must become a place of refuge where truth will be
allowed to roam free and ideas compete for space without any shackles.
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