Tertiary Institutions Advised to Train Thinking Leaders
Participants at the opening ceremony in a group photograph with Chancellor, Dr David Oyedepo and Vice-Chancellor, Professor AAA. Atayero
The Chancellor, Covenant University, Dr. David O. Oyedepo, has advised tertiary institutions to train thinking leaders that would provide immediate solutions to the nation’s current challenges.
He gave this advice on Monday, October 16, 2017, at the formal opening of the 54th Conference of the Committee of Deans of Postgraduate Schools (CDPGS) in Nigerian Universities, where he was the Guest Lecturer.
While delivering his lecture titled, ‘Repositioning Postgraduate Education for Sustainable National Development: The Leadership Dimension,’ Dr. David Oyedepo, who is also the Chairman, Board of Regents, Covenant University, stated that leaders must first turn themselves into critical thinkers in order to produce young scholars who will sustain the thinking culture.
He stressed that leaders are thinkers and all committed thinkers are potential leaders. The real worth of a leader, he said, is in the value he adds, the contribution he makes and the feats he accomplishes.
“Global solution providers such as Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and the Wright Brothers, amongst others, once had a brainwave in their time which led to great revolutions in their respective fields,” he added.
The Chancellor urged Nigerian universities to embrace the virtues of thinking by training students who would identify besetting issues and proffer urgent solutions to the nation’s challenges. “The nation needs to wake up by imbibing development oriented thinking so as to achieve sustainable national development, thereby solving our immediate problems by using indigenous solutions,” he said.
Dr. Oyedepo asserted that the greatest challenge hindering Africa’s development was that of underdeveloped minds in Nigeria and other African countries. He noted that Nigerians were fond of complaining incessantly about institutional failures, rather than being involved in activities that would bring about desired outcomes, thereby making themselves instruments of change.
In his remarks at the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University, Professor AAA. Atayero, stated that there was the need for the nation’s universities to refocus their vision, adding that this was vital in achieving sustainable education.
He said that it was time the Federal Government started using indigenous research in solving the nation’s problems. “Quality research, review of the university reward systems, as well as review of the sense of value, would aid good development, and take our nation forward,” he added.
The Chairman, Deans of Postgraduate Schools, Professor Bamidele Sanni, in his speech, said that it is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to lead postgraduate students on the right path so that they would be adequately prepared for future responsibilities.
He implored members to be steadfast in training their students to achieve meaningful and visionary goals in the country.
