FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is not inferior to other universities in the country.
Obasanjo stated this, yesterday, when he played host to some of the university’s officials who came on a courtesy visit and alumni award presentation.
The former president said he had a first hand experience of the standard of the institution, hence his declaration.
He noted that in the past, there had
been only one university in Nigeria for about 10 years, which is the University of Ibadan.
According to him, the second generation of universities, which are the federal and state universities, were also established just as the third generation, which are the private universities, also came into existence.
Obasanjo, however, said that despite these efforts, there was still a wide gap in university education in Nigeria, hence the establishment of NOUN, to ease the academic burden for those working or seeking distance learning.
“Despite the availability of universities, we’re still not coping; the gaps kept getting wider, which was why I said Open University is a necessity; it created more avenues and made it convenient for working-class citizens.
“Some people rose up, saying open university is inferior to non-open universities, but I was not discouraged.
“I said, let me go there and have a taste of what they’re saying it is inferior. Then I came in, I saw and I conquered.
“Two distinguished lecturers supervised me and supervised many other PhD students, and if they supervised me successfully, my PhD wouldn’t be inferior.
“So, if mine isn’t inferior and those before me are not inferior, National Open University has come to stay; at some point, we were more than half a million, and we are still growing,” Obasanjo said.
The former president assured the officials of his maximum support for the institution.
Prof. Ganiyat Adesina-Uthman, the Director at the Directorate of Advancement and Linkages (DAL) of National Open University, declared that NOUN had been a great blessing, not just to Nigeria and Nigerians but to African countries.
Adesina-Uthman added that the university is not just a federal university but one of its kind in Africa and the biggest on the continent.
