The authorities of the University of Ilorin, Kwara State say they are producing 48 First Class graduates and 106 PhD holders in this year’s convocation.

The university’s Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun, stated this in a statement obtained by our correspondent on Monday.

According to him, the first class holders are part of the 5, 421 graduands for the institution’s 30th convocation.

He added that 1,190 would be graduating with Second Class Upper degree, while another 2,814 would be graduating with Second Class Lower degree.

The ceremonies are for between October 20 and 23.

Meanwhile, a member of the just concluded National Conference, Mr. John Dara, has called for the expansion of infrastructure and admission capacity in the nation’s universities.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event where the West African Students’ Union honoured him with the Kwameh Nkrumah award on Monday, Dara also said there was the need to encourage more private sector participation in tertiary institutions’ ownership in the country.

The move, according to him, will help to address the wide gap admission gap in the country.

He said, “We need to keep expanding the existing tertiary institutions and we need to allow more universities, especially through private initiatives. Private initiatives can substantially boost the quality of education. People may see private initiatives to mean profit-driven university system. No! The investors in the most privately owned universities across the world are not expecting profit.

“We have enough wealthy people that can invest in university. There is no reason why we cannot have, for instance, a Dangote University and a Mike Adeniuga University in Ijebu Ode. Let us encourage private universities to build more universities so that we will give our children the opportunity to be their best.”

He urged public universities to explore other funding platforms, such as private-public partnership in order not to depend solely on the government for their funding.

Dara also canvassed the need for the restoration of the glorious yesteryear of Nigerian tertiary institutions.

“In fact, while there are indications that things are improving, we are far from where we ought to be. I long for a time when our universities will be centres of excellence again. Take, for instance, there is no reason why the University of Ibadan cannot regain her position as a global centre of excellence in medical science; why the University of Lagos cannot regain her position as a leading centre for management studies.

“Formerly UNILAG was a trail-blazer in Environmental Science, the same with Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. People like us want to see a situation where when they talk about the global top 50, they will mention two Nigerian universities or more among them. Then we know that we have made tremendous progress

Sourcehttp://www.punchng.com/education/48-bag-first-class-from-unilorin/