The immediate past vice chancellor of the University of Benin , Prof. Lillian Salami, has lauded President Bola Tinubu on the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) policy aimed at assisting those who don’t have funding to pursue education.
Salami, who spoke at the Thanksgiving and Book Launch to mark the end of her 5- years tenure as the 10th Substantive Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin ,Edo State, also added that inadequate funding and lack of personnel are among other challenges public universities in Nigeria face.
She said NELFUND is a work in progress that still needs to be better administered in order to meet the needs of more indigent students who may not be able to meet their education needs financially.
She said,” NELFUND is trying to bring equity and equality to everybody, and for me , it is a process that is still in the works. We have not gotten there.
There are a lot of things we are trying to get in place, trying to bring those who are outside into the system. We are still working on how to get more students to key into the system. We need to step up our game to bring a lot of people into the system.”
On her efforts to make the University of Benin a better institution than she met it, she said, “With all humility,I think I have done my best to rap it up. My prayer is that the university can grow higher than we met it. The challenges are the same as with other tertiary institutions: lack of funding, lack of manpower, and constant strike by academic and non-academic staff.
In her memoir which was titled , “So Much to Say”, she said managing students of the University of Benin was like managing a motor park with uncultured youths.
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