'FG will encourage entrepreneurs in education sector' - Vice President says

The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday said the Federal Government will encourage entrepreneurs to bridge the gap in education sector.

Osinbajo spoke at the inauguration of Augustine University in Ilara-Epe, Epe, founded by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos.

Osinbajo, represented by Prof. Vincent Tenebe, the Vice-Chancellor, National Open University (NOUN), said the election promises made concerning the sector would be fulfilled.

The vice president said the best way to ensure positive change in the society was through education.

He said government was committed to encouraging investments in education as it could not meet the educational needs of the country’s large population alone.

Osinbajo expressed optimism that the Catholic Church would maintain the quality and standard for which its educational institutions were known.

He charged the church to make the institution affordable to ordinary Nigerians.

Osinbajo said time had come to shift the focus of the nation’s educational system to an entrepreneurial model.

The vice president also advised Nigerians to take advantage of open and distance learning which had proved to be beneficial to countries with large populations such as China, India and Indonesia.

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State saig efforts were being made to resolve the challenges in state owned tertiary institutions.

He commended the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos for its strides in the education sector adding that religious institutions had been in the forefront of building men of character.

Founder of the university, Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, said it would produce well rounded persons who would be role models and leaders in the society.

Head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Archbishop Adewale Martins, said the university would equip students with the requisite knowledge and spirit of philanthropy to make the society a better place for all.

Martins, also a proprietor of the university, pledged that all stakeholders in the institution would be held accountable to its motto which is For Learning and Character.