His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has said the goal of his administration for its newly-established university, Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, Kogi State, was to make it a world-class citadel of learning that will groom graduates grounded in science and technology.
He said this on Thursday during the maiden matriculation ceremony for pioneer students of the university held at Osara, Kogi State.
The governor described the matriculation ceremony as a watershed in the history of the educational development of Kogi State.
He said his administration was greatly disturbed by the painful experiences of hundreds of Kogi youngsters who were unable to pursue careers in Science and Technology due to very limited openings in universities outside Kogi State, hence, the establishment of CUSTECH.
“We found that even with impressive scores in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), cutthroat competition for limited spaces and unfavourable catchment considerations usually put our children at a greater disadvantage.
“Over the years, access to such programmes as Medicine & Surgery, Pharmacy, Architecture, Engineering and others in this category kept dwindling for Kogi secondary school leavers.
“This trend became so worrisome that we just had to act as a Government to bring it to the only logical end. Problems make me combative for solutions. It is my default mindset that leaders exist to find solutions to the problems of those they lead or they lose their moral authority to leadership. It was thus my duty and the duty of my Administration to solve this particular problem too for Kogites using all the resources of Government at our disposal.
“Accordingly, and in line with the Administration’s avowed commitment to providing a wide spectrum of educational opportunities for our younger generations, we decided to take action by establishing a specialised university of our own, dedicated to science and technology. Not only was this action imperative but it was also very much in sync with best practices in educational progressivism all over the world.
“In fact, we were so driven by the need to reduce the pains of our young ones as quickly as possible that we may have set a record for the shortest gestation period ever in the history of Nigerian universities”, he said.
He said the goal of his administration was to ensure the university becomes a world-class citadel of learning and can compete favourably with its peers in any part of the globe.
