Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday declared that the government could not support the universities as they wanted.
He said the government could also not even keep the schools at their current levels.
Osinbajo made the remark in Lagos at the “2017 Distinguished Alumni Awards and Celebration of UNILAG at 55’’ organised by the Alumni Association of the University of Lagos.
He also harped on public-private collaboration on varsity funding.
His words: “We must ensure that we continue in the great traditions of the University of Lagos.
“This is why I am so excited to see a lot of very committed alumni who want to see to it that our university grows from glory to glory.
“And it is important that we do so because just as the pro chancellor pointed out, government cannot support the universities to the extent that is required, or to keep them even at the current levels.
“A lot will have to come from the alumni and the private sector.
“That is how great universities all over the world are run.
“And I am excited to see that our project today, the fund raising project, is one that has clearly shown the way to go with respect to developing our universities.’’
Describing the occasion as a special one to him, Osinbajo said he was determined to stay till the end of the programme.
“It is not often that one gets a chance to enjoy the company of many who have either been colleagues or seniors in the same university.
“And in any event it is not often that one gets to celebrate the 55th anniversary of a great institution.
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“I want to say that UNILAG has proved time and time again to be not just a university of first choice but also the university of `firsts’; so many firsts in so many different areas,’’ he said.
He said it was great to find that one of the awardees, Dr Daniel Olukoya, the Pastor and Founder of the Mountain of Fire Miracles Ministry, was the first to clone genes.
He said: “That was absolutely an outstanding thing.
“The Pastor and Founder of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, (Pastor Enoch Adeboye) was also the first Nigerian to get a PHD in a Nigerian University in Applied Maths and Engineering.
“And I think that there are so many other firsts but I know that the most important thing for us today is to ensure that those firsts do not become the last…
“I would like to thank everyone, for those of us who have managed to stay to the very end and to hope that when we celebrate our 60th you will all be here.
“And we will all be here to celebrate the 70th and 80th and 100th as well for the young ones amongst us.’’
The Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Rahmon Bello, who bagged an honorary award, noted that the University’s landmark called for celebration as many graduates had passed through UNILAG in 55 years.
He said the past five years he had been VC more than 285,000 graduated with half of that number having Post Graduate (PG) degrees.
The retiring VC said UNILAG had a student population of 58,000 but faced the highest challenge of accommodation as only 8,000 bed spaces existed.
“Efforts need to be increased for accommodation of graduates and PG students,’’ he said and thanked the Alumni Association for embarking on a new 500-bed hostel.
Bello noted that the university was a leading one in the country but needed to catch up with other institutions in the continent and the globe.
Accordingly, he said the expectation was for the government to allow alternative sources of funding for higher institutions.
