… Ooni, Gov Oyebanji, commend airline for sustaining Ekiti operations

The Executive Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has received an Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) degree from Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) during its 14th convocation held on Wednesday in Ekiti State.

This is as the state governor, Abiodun Oyebanji and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, commended the airline for what they described as its reliable service to Ekiti.

Governor Oyebanji noted that a day earlier, he had commissioned a primary healthcare centre and a solar-powered borehole in Aso-Ayegunle, a community project donated by United Nigeria Airlines as part of its corporate social responsibility efforts. The governor confirmed that the facility had already been handed over to the State Ministry of Health and was in immediate use.

While the Ooni commended the airline for maintaining its flight operations to Ekiti and said that the service has made travel in and out of the state far easier, noting that United Nigeria Airlines is currently the only carrier flying to Ekiti from both Abuja and Lagos.

Earlier on at the convocation lecture which held on Tuesday, the founder of ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, (SAN),  said he will forward a copy of the 14th Convocation Lecture delivered by  Prof. Okonkwo to the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Federal Ministry of Education and President Bola Tinubu for consideration.

He described the lecture as one of the most brilliant he has ever heard, saying it is a potential roadmap for reforming Nigeria’s education sector.

The lecture, delivered at the university’s Alfa Begore Hall, was titled “Functional Education and the Nigerian Project: Strategic Human Capital Development for National Renewal.” In it, Okonkwo called for a fundamental shift in the country’s education system toward functional learning that blends academic knowledge, practical skills, entrepreneurship and sound moral values.

Okonkwo argued that functional education has been a recurring theme in government policy, university programmes and employer demands, yet little effort has gone into defining what functionality actually means.  He said functional education should be judged by whether it equips learners with relevant competencies, prepares them for the workplace, encourages entrepreneurship and enables them to contribute to economic and social transformation.

He called for curricula aligned with Nigeria’s economic priorities, technological advancement and labour market demands. Universities, he said, must move beyond transmitting theory and become places where students gain practical experience, develop innovative ideas and build solutions to societal problems. He cited agriculture, engineering, medicine, business, law and the sciences as fields that should strengthen practical training, research and entrepreneurship programmes.

Okonkwo  emphasised moral formation, arguing that a country cannot develop sustainably if its institutions are weakened by corruption, dishonesty and poor accountability. “Human capital without moral capital cannot sustain national development,” he said.

He named integrity, discipline, patriotism, leadership, accountability, industry, compassion and humanity as values that tertiary institutions must deliberately cultivate.

Drawing on the work of Francis Fukuyama and Douglass North, he linked trust and institutional quality to competitiveness, noting that investors are more likely to operate where contracts are respected and ethical standards upheld.

Babalola said he was moved by the lecture’s emphasis on curriculum reform. “We cannot teach here what we are going to become in the future without considering the curriculum,” he said.

He criticised the proliferation of universities that he believes lack adequate facilities and standards, and he called for more rigorous scrutiny of institutions seeking approval to operate.

He recalled that NUC officials once physically inspected facilities before granting approval and suggested that quality and institutional readiness should again take priority.

It is in this context that he pledged to circulate the lecture to the NUC, the Federal Ministry of Education and the President. The move positions the lecture not just as an academic address but as a policy submission aimed at influencing national reform.

Former NUC Executive Secretary and chairman of the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, also commended Okonkwo, saying the lecturer covered everything that needed to be covered and described the attributes of a functionally educated person.

ABUAD Vice-Chancellor Prof. Smaranda Olarinde described the lecture as an important platform for intellectual engagement on issues affecting the university, the nation and humanity.