Date Published: 06/05/09
American University of Nigeria: A silent Revolution in the North
By Ganiyu Abdullateef
The world - over, much emphasis is placed on winning. We have been taught that unlike a loser, everyone loves a winner. Nice guys finish last. In professional sports, winning is but everything. Also in business of any type, striving for the top rung of the ladder is a constant goal. This scenario can be likened to the federal government’s educational system and the establishment of the American University of Nigeria, a privately owned tertiary institution. According to experts, Nigerian citizens currently spends in excess of over one billion dollars annually to acquire education outside the shores of this country. It is estimated that no fewer than half of this amount is also expended on Medicare abroad within the same period of time. There is no doubt that this figure represents a significant leakage in our economy most especially when a fraction of the amount over 5 years can make a huge improvement in the country’s education and health systems. And this brings to the fore the saying “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game”, seems a worn shibboleth judged by current competitive standards.
The establishment of the Abti American University of Nigeria (AUN) by the Turaki Adamawa and Nigeria’s immediate past Vice President Atiku Abubakar in 2005, had brought into focus those areas that require further development in the nation’s educational standard. This novel idea of setting up the private tertiary institution is strategic in several ways. For one, the content and structure of the country’s educational system will be boosted locally. The establishment of the private university especially the only one of its type in the North East sub-region, will remain dynamic in keeping with the economic requirements and to respond to new global challenges. As the greatest resource of a nation, people’s potential shall continue to be the central goal in transforming the education sector in Nigeria.
With the recent graduation of the pioneering students of the American University of Nigeria in Yola, no one should be left in doubt, that it’s proprietor Atiku Abubakar has commenced a pragmatic building of Nigeria’s educational sector. Based on this premise, both the federal government and the AUN, should be seen to be building a sustainable, locally relevant and internationally competitive education system. Such a system will be accessible, egalitarian, equitable, qualitative and capable of imparting functional and life long skills. And such life long skills should be geared towards self realization, better human relationship, individual, national efficiency and technological progress.
There is no gainsaying the fact that, job creation is the most important issue in the country’s economy today. And so, the establishment of the Abti American University of Nigeria situated in Yola, has absorbed the numerous numbers of unemployed graduates and other category of Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike.
The Turaki Adamawa has encouraged especially the youth, to fend for them selves educationally. The AUN’S educational excellence is rated among the best in the world. The establishment of this institution is comparable to the role of a mother eagle and her younger ones. In her preparation, the female eagle goes to great lengths aimed to promote the survival of the birds she will hatch. This interest in their survival extends beyond their birth as the young eagles grow; they begin to fight for space. Their demands for food eventually become such that the mother eagle cannot feed them what they need. To survive, she knows that her brood has to leave its nest. That is exactly the Turaki’s role in establishing the Abti American University in Nigeria.
And so, it may not be out of place to honour the proprietor an immediate past Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar with an Honourary Doctor of Humane Letters by the American University of Nigeria for his immense contributions to the country’s educational and national development. Other eminent personalities honoured alongside the proprietor are the Lamido of Adamawa Dr. Aliyu Mustapha and the Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the South African fiery clergyman. No matter what anybody would say, each of the three recipients has significantly contributed to the growth and development of the American University of Nigeria based in Yola, Admawa State.
So far, out of the 90 pioneering students who graduated from the University last weekend, no fewer than 10 percent of them have either secured jobs with highly reputable employers or gained admissions into graduate schools in Universities across the globe. This indeed is a worthy legacy and a challenge to other eminent Nigerians to emulate.
Ganiyu Abdullateef sent this piece from No. 814, Olateju Street, Mushin Lagos
