That the adherents of the two major religions in the country; Islam and Christianity are fasting at the same time this year was not in any way a mere chance but rather a deliberate way of passing an important message to the people, the Vice -Chancellor of University of Ilorin, Professor Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, has submitted.
While noting that Nigerians are ‘religious’ but not ‘Godly’, Professor Egbewole, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also emphasized the need to understand and grasp the message and use the opportunity ‘to be more Godly as a people’.
The Vice-Chancellor, who said this while giving his speech during the iftar dinner he had with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara state including Team@orientactualmags.com on Saturday, also emphasized the need to attach importance to living a Godly life.
Muslims are ordered to fast from dawn to sunset during the month of Ramadan and Iftar is the evening meal they take after the sun has gone down.
Lent fasting signifies a solemn 40-day period preceding Easter while Ramadan which is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting with intense spiritual rejuvenation.
Lent fasting started on Wednesday, February 14 , 2024, while Ramadan started on March 11,2024.
Restating his commitment to creating an enabling environment for the achievement of his administration’s Vision 1:10:500 and SMART agenda which are all about University of Ilorin attaining global reckoning as a 21st Century university and the best in Africa through well- planned and coordinated strategies , Egbewole also disclosed that 201 people were recently employed to strengthen the university’s workforce while noting that such a thing had not been done since 7 years ago.
‘We need to create an enabling environment for our students to learn, for our staff to ply their trade and for the University to achieve its smart agenda’ he said.
The Vice-Chancellor also commended unions at the University for ensuring that activities were not brought to a standstill during the warning strike carried out by members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational Associated Institutions between March 18, 2024 , and March 25 March 2024, while gleefully submitting that ‘none of our units was closed’ whilst the warning strike lasted.
‘With regard to the warning strike by NASU and SSANU I have said it over and over that our unions at the University of Ilorin are responsible unionists and our primary concern is our students and that’s why it was possible for us to continue with our examination without any hiccups.
I commend the union as well the general staff for their responsible behaviour. They obeyed and I want to say with all sense of responsibility that the unions obeyed their leaders at the national level and embarked on warning strike but because of our understanding at the University, the unions that were not on strike assisted in creating a seamless process.
I’m pleased to tell you that the University of Ilorin is the most outstanding University in Nigeria today’ he added.
‘We will ensure that the university continues to thrive , the strides we have made are not diminishing and that is why I can confidently tell you that the ongoing Semester Examination is going to an end without any form of disruption in our academic calendar and we intend to continue to maintain this position by God’s Grace’ he added.
The VC also said he looks forward to making the university become self-sustaining and a global player while disclosing plans to venture into agricultural production in collaboration with Oriental Energy Farm Ltd and others adding that this will apart from providing an avenue to train the students will also feature exportation of agricultural produce and result in generation of revenue.
‘A number of infrastructure projects have surfaced at our University. We have completed the Chemical Engineering department , the senate building has witnessed an improvement and we have also renovated a good number of facilities as we speak, we have also completed a number of new hostels.
We have continued to prioritize the welfare of our students and the staff’ he said-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
