Founder Pledges Support to AUN
AUN’s Founder, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, used the occasion of the 12th Founder’s Day to restate his continued support to the university’s growth and development.
The former Nigerian Vice President, who read a speech consistent with his lifelong passion for and commitment to education, highlighted the urgency of improved funding and access to quality education in an inclusive manner, while recognizing the role the American University of Nigeria is playing in fighting illiteracy and poverty in the region.
“As you take on this important responsibility, let me assure you, Madam President, and the entire AUN educational community, that I will intensify my support to the University and its educational mission.
“Your effort with the Feed and Read program is impressive but not enough. It merely illuminates the way forward and highlights part of the reason for the huge number of school dropouts in our region.”
The Founder recognized that more work needs to be done to tackle the challenges, citing the high drop-out rate in primary and secondary levels as a distress point. He urged the university to find creative ways of working with the community and governments so as to address them.
“This challenge is also paradoxically an opportunity for our educational community to dig deep into our knowledge boxes and come up with strategies to capture all these out of school children back to the classrooms.”
He was however confident that AUN students and faculty are working hard to proffer solutions to the country’s myriad of problems.
“When I encounter our very creative students demonstrating their knowledge, skills and talents, my confidence soars and my faith in the future of Nigeria becomes a lot stronger.”
Reported by Omorogbe Omorogiuwa
