Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria’s fastest growing university- the Federal University Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, has again reiterated his commitment to making FUOYE a global brand for research with a view to enhancing academic productivity.
Besides, he passionately encouraged Nigerian universities to prioritized research prowess through dissemination of outputs, robust critiques and engagements, and cross-fertilisation of ideas.
This, according to the Vice-Chancellor would provoke academic productivity for the overall benefits of Nigeria and the African continent.
Prof. Fasina said this at a capacity-filled Faculty of Social Sciences, Phase 3, FUOYE, venue of this year’s “International Conference 2023,” being hosted by the university’s Faculty of Social Sciences.
It’s a two-day international conference which kick-started between 26th and 27th April, 2023.
This was contained in a statement released by the university Public Relations Officer, Mr. Foluso Ogunmodede.
However, declaring the two-day International Conference open, FUOYE VC, harping on the conference’s theme, “Optimizing and Achieving Nigeria’s Socio-economic Development: Prospects, Opportunities and Challenges”, said the conference would no doubt yield desired results.
To Prof. Fasina, having ex-rayed and dissected the conference’s theme, believed that the theme was not only apt for the nation’s Socio-economic Development but timely, saying it would boost economic prosperity of a nation especially “at a time like this in the annals of our nationhood.”
He went on: “It is not out of place to say that our dear country is facing a lot of challenges ranging from increasing population to competition for scarce resources and its attendant vices.
” I wish to state that without equivocation that large population in itself is not a curse rather when tapped into could yield demographic dividend which would in turn boost the economic prosperity of any nation.
“Therefore, to optimize and achieve the nation’s Socio-economic Development, there’s the need to harness the prospects, identify the opportunities and provide veritable ways forward to mitigating the challenges through evidence-based and empirical research from the academia which the society relied on to draw from as the reservoir of knowledge.
“I harbour no doubt in my mind that this conference is poised to achieving these laudable goals.”
In his address, the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Babatunde Omotosho, lauded the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Fasina, describing him as an enigmatic and result-oriented leader, saying his fatherly role would not be forgotten in a hurry.
“We’re indeed grateful for living up to your sobriquet of motivation to innovation; the product of what we are witnessing today. Mr. Vice-Chancellor sir, you have started well, it’s our prayers that your administration would end well with huge success,” he said.
Meanwhile, shortly after chairman conference organising committee, Dr. Sunday Adedini’s opening remarks, Prof. Olabisi Idowu Aina from the Obafemi Awolowo gave a keynote address.