Former governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, has announced plans to establish a School of Leadership to be domiciled in Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State.
Akande said the plans emerged upon the recommendation of a Committee led by Professor Olu Aina, who will also liaise with the Vice Chancellor on the implementation of the proposal.
Akande, who described Igbenedion University as a flagship brand of private universities in sub-Saharan Africa, said it is a brand he is proud to be associated with and one he has gladly accepted to be its ambassador.
This is as Igbinedion University, Nigeria’s premier private University, on Saturday, awarded Chief Bisi Akande with Horary Doctorate Degree in Political Science.
Other honourees were Lt. General Jeremiah Timbuktu Useni (rtd) and Engr. (Dr) Abubakar Isa.
Speaking during the institution’s 19th Convocation at Okada, the Chancellor of the institution, Chief Dr. Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, said those awarded Honorary Doctorate Degree were truly worthy of the honour due to their antecedents and exploits in life as well as their dedication to their primary call of duties.
He described the conferment as an induction into the league of men and women who have distinguished themselves through service to humanity and integrity.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor Lawrence Ikechukwu Ezemonye, in his own address said Akande was one of three distinguished Nigerians considered for the honours on the basis of their contributions to society and national development.
“We congratulate you heartily for making the list out of the series of distinguished personalities considered. It is an award well deserved and we share in your glory at this moment”, Professor Ezemonye said.
Akande, while speaking on behalf of other honourees, lauded the management of Igbenedion University for the honour, adding that it was a further of his fascination with education.
“Education thrills me because I know its value. I also appreciate what the lack of it does to human beings and society at large. I consider education as an insatiable right of an individual that society and government must provide and fund adequately.
“There has always been native, informal education, which we call home traditional education available to us before literacy. It always involve listening, observing and imitating as children grow from birth. That form of education comes with an affordance of the learning of native morales on how to be a good and valuable member of our society.
“However, with the coming of writing, knowledge becomes codified and has become better preserved from.one generation to another. The riddle that remains however is whether literacy alone is education”, he said.
Akande also lauded the foray of private organisations and individuals into tertiary education, describing it as a welcome development that has gone a long way in bringing the infrastructural gap in the educational sector. He particularly lauded Chief Igbinedion for being the mastermind of an audacious initiative at a time when the atmosphere was cloudy and uncertain.
He continued: “I am particularly grateful to the honourable Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Chief (Dr) Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, for his cross-cultural, cosmopolitan and pro-development values which have become rallying factors for the people of Nigeria and Africa in general.
“I cannot agree less that Sir Chief Igbinedion is a true son of Africa. His vision and drive in establishing the first Private Institution in Nigeria represents an enduring legacy”, he added.
