The Forum for Oke Ogun Progress (FFOP) held the third edition of her annual Education Summit so as to discuss the ‘PROLIFERATION OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS AND DWINDLING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS IN NIGERIA: CAUSES; CONSEQUENCES AND PANACEA’ with a view finding lasting solutions to the country’s declining standards of the tertiary education. The FFOP Education Summit had participants from all works of life and from different parts of the country.
The programme commenced at exactly 10.30am with a Keynote Speech delivered by Saheed Adekunle Imran (PhD, FCA, FIMC) and had over 200 people in attendance including the Vice Chancellor, Summit University, Offa, Kwara State, Prof. Musa Aibinu ably represented by Dr. Sakinat Folorunsho, Computer Science Department, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ogun State; Prof. Muhammed Shehu Tijjani, Department of Accounting, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State; Dr. Wale Kareem, Tertiary Institutions Department, Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, well represented by Dr. Rashidat Sade Ganiyu, Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, Oyo State as well as the Zonal Director, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan, Mr. Dominic Mokikan, ably represented by Reverend Niyi Dahunsi, Deputy Director (Programmes), Radio Nigeria, Ibadan, Oyo State among other dignitaries who came from various works of life. The Occasion was intriguingly anchored by two Media Professionals, viz. Mr. Shakiru Bankole and Mr. Davies Babalola. The Founder/ President, Dr. Saheed Adekunle Imran during his Keynote Speech congratulated the thirteen (13) tertiary institution students that performed well during the FFOP/ Kareem Alao Scholarship Aptitude Test, which took place on 23rd December, 2023. He used the occasion to mention that the Forum has exemplary processes of automated scholarship application, merit-based selection criteria as well as instant result after the FFOP Aptitude Test. So, as an FFOP scholarship applicant, there is no need to know anybody before being granted scholarship. It is a student’s performance that will stand him/her out among the equals due to the fact the aim of the educational support to the successful students is to continue to breed new generations of scholars. He further mentioned that the award of scholarship is annually conducted only to the glory of God. It is also being carried out to academically enrich the future of this country.
He further stated that the Inductees’ Award of Scholarship is a celebration of risk taking in terms of sitting for the Forum’s Aptitude Test without an assurance of passing. It is also a celebration of dedication and excellence. The FFOP/Kareem Alao Education Support Scheme has therefore provided a template for future initiatives of this nature, the President said.
With FFOP’s scholarship methodology, I can assure you that this is a supportive foundation for building a government of national competence that the country currently needs to move to higher altitude, Dr. Saheed emphasized. The Founder also reiterated that the FFOP not only provides educational support packages to these young intellectuals, a consistent mentorship is also accorded so that they would continue to excel and shine in their various fields of study.
Dr. Saheed Imran then moved to the main purpose of the Summit, which is concerned with the declining standards of Tertiary education in the country and the need to nip it in the bud so that students can continue to gain excellent academic, entrepreneurial and research skills from our various tertiary institutions of learning. He equally stated that relevant stakeholders in the country’s education sector should enhance the performance of our various tertiary institutions in terms of the number of students compared to the teaching staff available in Nigerian tertiary schools; the number of bachelor degree holders relative to the number of doctorate degree holders produced in those same Universities in Nigeria; the Universities’ research productivities compared to the revenue generated from such research works; the proportion of foreign students and staff in the Nigerian universities and; the citations of the Nigerian Universities’ academic research in reputable well-rated journals in the World. He then remarked that the above-mentioned performance indicators are sine-qua-non for rating a university/tertiary institution adequately by Education Rating Agencies in the World.
source : https://theshieldonlineng.com/forum-for-oke-ogun-progress-holds-third-edition-of-annual-education-summit/