The Chairman, Governing Council of the Osun State University, Mr. Yusuf Ali, SAN, has said the N250m donated by the Chancellor of the university, Mrs. Folorunso Alakija, to the construction of the access road to the Osogbo campus of the university is responsible for the quick completion of the project.
Ali said this at the inauguration of the newly constructed road, which cost the university N350m after the contract sum was reviewed downward by the Governing Council.
Ali, in a speech delivered during the inauguration of the project, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Friday, stated that the Governing Council wanted the access road contracted out, but money became an issue until Alakija donated N250m for the construction.
He said, “I interacted with the state governor on behalf of the university and requested him to grant the council permission to interface with the contractor and do whatever we thought necessary to deliver this project. He readily obliged us.
“That permission led the council to negotiate with the contractor, who agreed to our downward review of the contract sum to the sum of N350m only.
“Mr. Governor also gave approval to the naming of the access road in honour of our Chancellor, Dr. Folorunso Alakija. For this gesture, we owe a debt of gratitude to the Visitor, Governor Rauf Aregbesola.”
Alakija attributed her gesture towards the construction of the university’s access road to her passion for education.
She bemoaned the deplorable state of the nation’s education system, saying it was also disheartening that no Nigerian university made the list of the first 1,000 in the world.
Aregbesola lauded the chancellor for donating the money to complete the road project, saying public spirited persons and old students of various schools should help to ensure infrastructural development and development of mental capabilities of their alma maters.
The governor described the situation where managers of universities in Nigeria relied on subventions from the owners and burden students with huge tuition fees as intellectual laziness.
