The Ekiti State University Alumni Association said on Wednesday that it had constructed five postgraduate chalets, to enable its members to continue their academics within the alma mater.
The National President of the Association, Mr Oludotun Adetunberu, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
[ads]
Adetunberu said the chalets would encourage the alumni and other Nigerians to seek education within the shores of the country, rather than going abroad.
According to him, the university has faced a lot of challenges right from when its name was changed, but the alumni have been able to come together to solve some of the challenges.
“I came on board two years ago. Before I came in, there had been division in the association, as a result of change in the name of the university.
[ads]
“When I came on board, I initiated the Ekiti Alumni Village, which is the first in the history of Africa.
“It is a city within a city, and we have started work. The first building we erected there was in honour of the Ooni of Ife; d he came in person to inaugurate that building in 2018.
“And now, we have got about five other buildings. They are postgraduate chalets, which have all amenities. We want to encourage our members not to be going to other institutions for their postgraduate studies.”
Adetunberu urged the government to adequately fund the institution, to enable it to focus on research that would advance development in other areas of the country.
“The subvention of the university is not enough to take care of the welfare of the university. The government gave us N260 million and the university will have to add N260 million to be able to pay salary every month.
“This means that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the university is weak.
“We also have to strengthen the research aspect of the university. We have a laboratory centre in the university where you can have a DNA test.
“We have the best laboratory equipment, but it is not in use; so, we are thinking of how we can bring life into all these things and strengthen our research base all over,” he said.
The association president said that the association had also put up the EKSU alumni professors, who had the compendium of knowledge to deliver to the university.
[ads]
According to him, the institution, so far, has produced 96 of such professors.
He said that the association would be hosting its 7th Annual General Meeting and special convention on Nov. 23, to chart the course on ways to move forward and contribute to the development of education.
