The Vice Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Prof Noah Yusuf, has said the recent killing of farmers in Zambarmari, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents, is a dangerous signal to food crisis.
He added that the seemingly intractable farmers/herders conflicts and flooding in parts of the country are capable of eroding the gains recorded by the Federal Government in its agricultural policies.
The vice chancellor, who addressed reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, during a pre-10th convocation press conference of the university, said the convocation this year would be done online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other issues of concern, according to the former director, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, include unemployment and absence of government’s support to private universities.
“Considering the key role played by private universities in the Nigerian educational system, the current absence of government support for private universities needs urgent reversal. It is important that government should come to the assistance of private universities by giving them grants to fund their researches and infrastructural development.
“The COVID-19 has succinctly demonstrated how much this is desirable for private universities to be able to continue to complement government’s efforts in the education sector,” he said.
Yusuf said the university would graduate 752 students.
According to him, out of these, 18 students have first class; 240 second class (Honours) in the upper division; 402 students scored second class (Honours) in the lower division and 91 third class.
