President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has said he was driven by passion and entrepreneurship to build and commission a 360-room hostel for Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
Dangote, who bagged the university’s honorary doctor of letters at its 41st convocation ceremony Saturday, said the 2,160-bed hostel was built at the cost of N1.2 billion, calling on corporate bodies and private investors to improve funding for tertiary education in Nigeria.
He urged the private sector to bridge the gap of underfunding of universities, adding that the federal government alone could not shoulder the entire burden of funding tertiary education due to competing needs from other sectors.
The business mogul said, “The student population at our universities have recorded significant increase without a corresponding growth in terms of infrastructure. This is a major challenge as Nigerian public universities continue to grapple with underfunding.
“The federal government alone cannot shoulder the entire burden of funding tertiary education due to competing needs of other sectors that also demand priority attention.
“This is where public-private-partnership can and should come in to fill the gap. I strongly believe the private sector must go beyond just the payment of 2 per cent education levy and be ready to join hands with the state and federal governments in expanded funding for tertiary education in Nigeria,” he said.
Dangote explained further that, the partnership and intervention of the private sector would ensure that institutions of higher learning are positioned to produce graduates who could transform the country.
