Use your knowledge for community development, Saliu charges Ilorin Professors

A former Dean of the old Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, University of Ilorin, Prof. Hassan Ajisafe Saliu, has urged Professors of Ilorin Emirate origin to always strive towards freeing their ancestral community from political and economic challenges.

Prof. Saliu gave this advice last Tuesday (December 26,2023) while delivering a paper titled  “Ilorin Professors, Academia, Challenges, and Solutions,” at the 2023 edition of the Annual General Meeting of Ilorin Emirate Professors’ Association held at Nice Peak Hotel, Ilorin.

The famous intellectual said that to meet the community’s expectations and address wider societal needs, Ilorin-born professors must bridge the gap between political leadership and intellectual resources.

 Prof. Saliu, who is also the National President of the Nigerian Political Science Association(NPSA), pointed out that despite IEPA’s membership strength of about 300, the association holds limited influence in making decisions that serve the collective interests of the Emirate.

He also expressed concern that the culture of the Ilorin Emirate is facing encroachment from external cultures that are alien to the community as he urged the Professors to mobilise other stakeholders to stem the tide of cultural erosion and imperialism Ilorin Emirate is currently battling with.

Prof. Saliu urged the Ilorin Emirate Council to extend its administrative system to the suburbs and new settlement areas within the emirate to counter this trend and avoid a situation where such places would be left ungoverned.

In his remarks, the President of IEPA, Prof. Abdulfatai Olokoba, explained that the association is a non-profit and non-political body with the primary objectives of contributing to the socio-economic development of Ilorin Emirate, Nigeria, and humanity at large.

In his goodwill message at the event, the Talba of Ilorin, who is also a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Shuaibu Oba AbdulRaheem, OFR , said that he was happy with the IEPA ,especially with its current executives, for the sustained gear at promoting the development of the Association and Ilorin Emirate at large.

Prof. AbdulRaheem specifically cited the increment in the number of scholarship awards granted brilliant but indigent students of Ilorin Emirate origin from 10 to 20 in 2023.

The former Vice Chancellor urged the IEPA to continue to work at ensuring greater peace and progress of the Ilorin Emirate, Kwara State and Nigeria.

The event, which was presided over by a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, OFR, was also graced by a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,Prof. Saka Nuru and a former Chief Medical Director, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Prof. Suleiman Alege Kuranga, among several others.