The Vice Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State (ABUAD), Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, has said no fewer than 15 universities are being mentored by the institution.
She said the decision of the institutions comprising foreign and local universities to adopt ABUAD as their mentor was not accidental, bearing in mind the monumental achievements of the institution.
The VC, who said this in Ado-Ekiti yesterday while addressing reporters, noted that the universities were attracted by ABUAD’s academic excellence, scholastic exploit, medical breakthroughs and its global visibility among the elite universities in the world.
She said ABUAD has become a pride of the Nigerian university system with the feats it has attained as a young university and as such one of the most sought after institutions for mentorship in the world.
Olarinde added that the institution had been living up to its expectation in the delivery of its tripodal mandates of qualitative teaching, cutting-edge research as well as community services.
She noted that the recent ranking of the institution as number 221 out of over 7,000 universities in the world was not a fluke, but rather an acknowledgement of its stellar achievements.
The VC called for the extension of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to private universities, describing as unfair and unacceptable, their exclusion from the list of the beneficiaries.
She said despite that private universities offer a viable alternative to public institutions and even complement and aid the drive of the government to increase the accessibility and quality of education, they do not receive any form of funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
“Consequent upon the failure of public universities to fully accommodate a majority of qualified candidates, licences were granted to private individuals and organisations to establish private universities in 1999.
“A careful reading of the relevant sections of the law shows that the intention of the lawmakers in imposing Education Tax on registered companies in Nigeria is for advancement of education to various levels and categories of education, through rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of education in Nigeria.
“Curiously, by the provisions of Section 7(1) of the Act, private institutions, including universities, are excluded from benefitting from the funds collected from companies, which are mainly private.”
“It seems clearly that Section 7(1) of the Act contradicts the provisions of Section 3(1), and violates Section 18 of the 1979 Constitution.
“The exclusion of private institutions, apart from the contradiction between Sections 3 and 7 of the law, is obviously unconstitutional, unfair and unjustifiable.”
