VC faults govt priority on projects

Chairman, Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Prof. Is-Haq Oloyede, has said the Nigerian government has failed to prioritise programmes and policies to the benefit of the people.According to him, a nation that is unable to feed its citizens should not be thinking of earmarking a larger percentage of her resources to the construction of amusement parks.He spoke as a guest lecturer at the 2011 Annual lecture of Klob Two-Seven in Ilorin on Tuesday on Youth Development in Nigeria: Self employment and security challenges.Oloyede stated that efforts of government to address youth restiveness and unemployment had been characterised by good programmes but with faulty implementation strategies and totally selfish and incompetent operators.He added that the "incompetent operators," had been shielding their deficiencies with excuses such as "lack of adequate resources."Oloyede, who is also Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, urged university administrators to design more exciting and motivating entrepreneurship programmes that will awaken the entrepreneurial interest of the students and lead them to self employment after graduation.He said Nigerias efforts in youth development were still below average compared with international standard. He added that the nations youth policy was totally outdated.Oloyede urged the Federal Government to address insecurity in Nigeria and adopt necessary and appropriate strategies to secure lives and property. He said security of lives and property was the cardinal responsibility of the government to the citizens."A proper understanding of National Security would make governments pay as much attention to social security, food security, health security and other facilities which have direct welfare implications for the citizens, as they do to defence and other armed forces. A large proportion of the national resources need not be expended on military defence and security, if security is understood in its practical sense," Oloyede said.
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