By Gabriel Dike, Lagos
The British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Mr Ben Llewellyn-Jones, on Tuesday expressed concern about the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The deputy high commissioner disclosed this as the guest speaker at the one year anniversary of the Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello.
At the occasion, the First Lady of Lagos State, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, and Senator Oluremi Tinubu, lauded Prof Olatunji-Bello for the achievements recorded in one year of her administration.
The occasion was also used by the university administration to award scholarship to 556 students whose Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) were above 4.5 CGPA in academic session.
The high commissioner expressed concern about the continued closure of public universities and hoped the strike would end soon.
“I sincerely hope Nigeria’s universities can all go back to work soon, to the benefit of students and staff and parents alike, and to the benefit of Nigeria and its future,” he said.
Llewellyn-Jones, who spoke on “The Significance of Education to the Growth of a Nation”, said the British government believe children should have access to education without fear.
“We are committed to supporting Nigeria in its efforts to deliver quality education. We see that work as a partnership, what donors can do is useful, necessary and vital,” he said.
“We have also invested significantly in advancing the education of girls through other programmes such as the two Girls Education Challenge (GEC) projects implemented by Mercy Corps and ImpactEd, which supported over 220,000 of Nigeria’s marginalized girls to improve learning opportunities and outcomes.”
In her speech, Vice Chancellor of LASU, Prof. Olatunji-Bello, said her vision on assumption of office is to make LASU the best university in West Africa.
She revealed that within three months of her administration, the National Universities Commission and relevant professional bodies conducted accreditation exercise on 37 courses and 31 received full accreditation.
Prof. Olatunji-Bello said her administration resuscitated the university’s 50 per cent rebate policy for students on a CGPA of 4.5 and 556 student scholars would benefit from the set of award.
First Lady of Lagos State Dr Sanwo-Olu and Senator Tinubu acknowledged projects executed by the VC under one year in office.