Jonathan promises to upgrade of universities

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday restated his administration’s commitment to upgrade the quality of university education in the country to world standard.‎

Jonathan stated this when a delegation of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) visited him at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said that one of his priorities was to return the country’s universities to winning ways by ensuring that they were rated among the top 500 in the world.

“We want to return our universities to winning ways; our ‎universities must be strengthened; our universities must be returned to the top.

“Our universities must not just be big in population but tops in terms of quality. ‎We want our universities to be among the top rated institutions in the world.

“It is not easy to be at the top, but there is no reason why Nigerian universities cannot be among the top 500 in the world.

“But we must work hard as a leading black nation in the world; we must get there.

“That’s the only way we can reshape and rebuild our nation so that our children will be proud of the nation for opportunity given to them to acquire education.”

The president explained that his administration was not only building physical infrastructure but was also focusing on human capacity development.

According to him, that is why we have this special scholarship where every year we give 100 scholarships to Nigerians who have made first class to study in any of the top 25 universities in the world.

“If we must talk of nuclear and space research, then we must build human capacity. This scholarship is for 100 students per year, and it is meant for first class students even if they are from same parents.

NANS President, Yinka Gbadebo, commended the performance of Jonathan’s administration in all sectors of the economy.

He also commended the president for giving Nigerian youths, including past leaders of NANS, the opportunity to participate in his administration.

“If all what we have said here today is not the truth, I want to challenge anybody in Nigeria to a public debate to come and debunk these things.

“We are now wiser and we would not be indoctrinated.”

Highlight of the occasion was the decoration of the president as the Grand Commander of Nigerian Student‎s (GCNS) and the conferment of the association’s Nigerian Heroes Award on him.