By Yinusa Ishola
Oro (Kwara) – Dr Olayinka Olowonirejuaro, the Provost of College of Education, Oro in Kwara, on Thursday charged the College’s graduates to strive to be job creators rather than job seekers.
Olowonirejuaro gave the charge during College’s 12th combined convocation ceremony in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area on Thursday.
The provost said that he gave the charge to the graduates based on the socio-economic instability and high of rate unemployment being experienced in the country.
He said that no matter how bad the situation was, there was always an opportunity to provide solutions.
“My children, you are graduating at a time of very serious economic challenges for the nation.
“Rather than create jobs, the economy is losing jobs at an unprecedented rate.
“Even those who manage to hold on to their jobs are not sure of regular payment of salaries, in fact, it has never been so bad.
“But please note that in any seemingly hopeless circumstances or problem, there is always opportunity for solutions.
“So in this circumstance, you should be the solution by striving to be job creators rather than job dependents,” he said.
Olowonirejuaro listed part of the college’s achievements to include a substantial increase in the students’ population with the return of earlier scrapped courses to the college’s academic programmes.
“Other achievements include admission of 500 students for degree courses following approval by the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) and improvement in the college’s general academic programmes,’’ he said.
The provost expressed happiness at the cordial relationship that existed between the college and its host community, Oro.
According to him, the college’s challenges include irregular payment of salary, promotion related issues, dilapidated infrastructure, erosion problem and bad access road.
Prof. Kenneth Adeyemi, the Chairman, College’s Governing Council said that the council was driven by good governance, fiscal responsibility, resource accountability and utmost transparency.
“Our strategies are based on a very fundamental foundation.
“With these tenets as our sine qua non, we were good to hit the ground running.
“All our transactions are therefore done with full disclosure of information,” he said.
Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara said that the recent recruitment of 1,850 teachers by his administration was part of the efforts to effectively utilise the products of the education colleges in the state.
Ahmed, who was represented by Mr Abdullahi Alikinla, the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, urged the graduates to use their entrepreneurial skills to benefit themselves, the state and country.
He also pledged the government’s continued support to the college’s management and staff in to excel in its academic and non-academic responsibilities. (NAN)