Kwara State government has expressed delight over the inauguration of National Open University (NOUN) Community Study Centre in Oke-Ero local government area of the state.
The state government described the development as a fulfilment of one of its goals for life-long education.
The state’s commissioner for tertiary education, Dr Mary Arinde made the government’s position known in a keynote address she presented at the inauguration and handing over of the centre to NOUN management in Iloffa.
Arinde said with the inauguration of the centre, “Ilofa campus now belongs to the largest University in Nigeria by national spread.”
She said NOUN had indeed made learning accessible and very importantly available to the people of Oke-Ero who are foremost pursuers of knowledge in accordance with the tradition of Ekiti people of Nigeria.
In his remarks, the Alofa of Iloffa, Oba Samuel Niyi Dada, expressed the community’s resolve toward embarking on self-help projects in various dimensions oiled by communal commitments to complement government’s efforts.
Oba Dada said such communal drive eventually resulted in seeking for an approval for a Community Study Centre from NOUN to be sited in the community.
Earlier, the vice chancellor of NOUN, Prof Olufemi Peters, had said the Iloffa community had substantially fulfilled every requirement toward the establishment of the study centre, hence the inauguration.
Peters, who was represented by the vice chancellor (Administration), Prof Isaac Butswat, charged leaders in the community to embark on advocacy so as to boost students’ enrollment and justify the establishment of the centre.
The president of Iloffa Descendants Union, Alhaji Suleiman Sanusi, represented by his deputy, Mr Segun Abifarin, enumerated the processes in the approval and inauguration of the study centre.
