President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Universities and other higher institutions of learning in the country to concentrate their research work on technology and national development.
The President made the call in Ilorin on Tuesday in his address to the 34th Convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin, Kwara State.
He also specifically requested that research efforts be intensified on Agriculture while the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) should commence critical examination of the content of the curricula of universities in Nigeria.
He said that university graduates should be groomed to become job creators as against job seekers which had sadly become the order of the day among the Nigerian youths.
The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof Abdulrasheed Abubakar, who was billed to represent the president at the event could not be in attendance to deliver the message.
Mr Noel Saidu, a Director of Quality Assurance at the Commission however stood in for him to read Mr President’s speech.
Buhari commended the university authority for coming up with 15 patents out of which six were done by the Vice-Chancellor.
He also tasked NUC to include Entrepreneurial Education in the country’s universities to make graduates job creators and not job seekers.
Buhari explained that the development of the country rest only on Nigerian youths, hence the need for a collaborative efforts to salvage the country.
In his address, Vice Chancellor, Professor Sulyman Abdulkareem, said the people are the products of their thoughts and thinking.
He told the graduating students that in life, some opportunities might have been lost in the past, but it should not signal the end of the world for them.
First, second and doctoral degrees were awarded at the ceremony covering, sciences, humanities, engineering, basic medical sciences, agriculture, education, nursing, communications and management sciences.