University of Jos - Nigeria
UNIVERSITY GRADUANDS CHALLENGED TO UTILISE THEIR CERTIFICATES AS TOOL FOR A SUCCESSFUL FUTURE
Graduands of the University of Jos have been challenged to utilize their certificates as a road map to their future development. Most Rev. (Dr) Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, threw the challenge while delivering the University of Jos 29th and 30th Convocation Lecture at the Multipurpose Auditorium, Bauchi Road Campus, entitled “Broken Truths: Nigeria’s Elusive Quest for National Cohesion”.
According to him, with their Certificates, the graduands could form the strongest army in the world and conquer all obstacles in the world. Kukah said with their Certificates, they could cross any ocean, climb any mountain and make the sky only a stepping stone to their dreams. The Cleric noted that their future is before them, wide open and limitless with a frontier of possibilities. He, therefore, charged them to go ahead to conquer and create a new, peaceful and just Nigeria. Kukah said a Certificate from University of Jos made YakubuDogara the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives excel, just like other successful UnijosAlumni, and so the utilization of their Certificates depends on them.
Bishop Kukah observed that the current Administration, under President Mohammed Buhari, was in fact, only recovering stolen money, but not fighting corruption with its policies, stressing that the process of stamping out corruption must befollowed to its root before it could be successful.
According to the Cleric, the consequence of “Broken Truths”in any country is that corruption becomes the order of the day and noted thatcorruption is not a disease in Nigeria, but the symptom of a disease.He decried a situation where the man on the street remained unhappy while those in leadership positions were also not happy and said there must be a reason why Nigeria is so distracted and things are not working well.
Bishop Kukah charged the Nigerian Government to channel its effort more on encouraging national cohesion rather than merely promising with words and not taking appropriate actions.
He called on Nigerian Universities to return to their pre-eminent positions of being true citadels of learning, by focusing on research and academic excellence rather than being distracted by the lucre of politics and intrigues from politicians. The Bishop charged the academia to support politics, but the support must be based on theircapacity to generate fresh ideas that would produce evidence based researches to assist policy makers with all honesty.
Speaking earlier, Chairman of the occasion and Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Professor SonniTyoden, described the Convocation Lecture topic as apt, saying that the issue of National Cohesion is a standard problem that the country is yet to address. He described the Guest Lecturer as a man of God, who is passionate about governance as well as the spiritual lives of the people. He congratulated the University of Jos for hosting a Convocation Lecturer who presented what he described as a thought provoking piece on conventional issues.
The occasion also featured dance presentations by Gamai and Naraguta traditional dancers as well as Students of the Department of Theatre and Film Arts, University of Jos.