Former Army Chief seeks more funding for Universities

The former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Theophilus Danjuma, has called for more funding for Universities in Nigeria.

General Danjuma, who observed that poor university funding is a universal problem that is not peculiar to the country, stated this during his decoration as the University of Ibadan, UI@75 Ambassador Extraordinaire in Lagos

The former Army Chief noted that even America, the supposedly wealthiest country in the world, does not fund universities but rather gives loans to students.

He stated that any public university that does not source for funding, in addition to subvention received from government, would die.

Danjuma commended the management of the University of Ibadan for the efforts being made to revitalise the university and cautioned that the management’s laudable aspirations must be gradually achieved through strategic planning.

The former Chief of Army Staff, who was visibly elated, thanked the UI@75 Anniversary Committee for the great honour and wished the university success in its efforts, assuring that he would assist the university further after he was presented a list of the university’s thematic projects by the Chairman of the UI@75 Anniversary Committee, Professor Peter Olapegba.

He was supported by his wife, Senator Daisy, who would herself, be conferred with the honorary degree of Doctor of Law by the University of Ibadan during its 2023 Convocation ceremonies and 75th Foundation Day, slated for November 17, 2023

General Danjuma, a 2020 Honorary Doctor of Letters Graduate (D. Litt. 2020) of the UI, is the founder of the TY Danjuma Foundation which had earlier donated a sum of N342million towards the upgrading of the Akinkugbe Kidney Center as a Center of Excellence in research, diagnosis and treatment of renal complications.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kayode Adebowale, reiterated that the UI, which began as a College of the University of London in 1948 with 103 students in three faculties, presently had over 42,000 students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in 18 faculties and a School of Business.