Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerians to work towards harness the nation’s huge population for the desired progress and development of the country.
Osinbajo made the call at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd combined convocation of the Sokoto State University on Friday in Sokoto.
The Vice President, who was the Guest Speaker, said Nigeria was among the densely populated nations of the world, noting that careful planning needed to be done to fine tune the development of the country and find solutions to its challenges.
He said careful scrutiny on ways to tackle population growth, climate change, security and unity of the nation have to be done, emphasizing that the unity of the nation should be sacrosanct.
According to Osinbajo, a good leader should be able to handle ethnic diversities through equity, justice and fairness.
He said managing ethnic diversity was not peculiar to Nigeria, stressing that many nations which faced similar challenges, however, strove to ensure transparency and development.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari administration prepared for the nation’s good future by ensuring right educational policies with embedded creativity and innovations.
“Education was accorded priority to reduce poverty and facilitate economic emancipation,’’ he said.
He urged Nigerians to continue emulating Nana Asama’u of the Sokoto Caliphate who became a role model in the promotion of education and entrepreneurship in the society.
He commended former Gov. Aliyu Wamakko for establishing the institution, as well as Gov. Aminu Tambuwal for sustaining it and enjoined the management to live up to expectation.
Osinbajo called on the graduands to regard themselves as agents of change and to concentrate on nation building.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sani Dangoggo, said that no fewer than 36 students of the university would be conferred with first class degrees at the combined convocation.
Dangoggo said that a total of 1,473 students graduated in the 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 sessions and that the convocation, scheduled for Saturday, March 13, would be the first to be held since the institution was established in July 2009.
The graduands are drawn from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Faculty of Education and Faculty of Science. (NAN)
