•By Oyeniyi Awojoodu, Ibadan
IBADAN – Concerned by the current situation of things in the country, members of the Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows ALUMNI Association Nigeria (COSFAN) has demanded for good governance, just as they suggested square peg in a square hole, social justice, tech innovation as solutions to all the predicaments the country is battling with.
Speaking at the opening of a 2-day maiden conference of the COSFAN titled “2024 International Conference”, held at the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan the Capital City of Oyo State, the Convener of the conference who also doubles as the President of COSFAN, Dr. Ekundayo Samuel noted that the gathering is very critical at a time like this in order to proffer solutions to many issues battling the country.
Ekundayo while speaking with journalists on the importance of the conference said, “today we are having our maiden international conference in Ibadan, we actually come into the limelight to support the Nigeria government, because we face with lots of challenges and besides we are a body that is comprises of all the professionals, like scientists, and the scholars across country that have been to the UK since 1960 till date, and we have eminent people that have gone through this scheme.
“So we are all coming together to see how we can raise critical issues that will proffer solutions to what we are going through in the country, and that’s why we’ve invited relevant stakeholders across the country and even in the diaspora, to see what we can do and to also speak into the ongoing issues in the country.
“Everything lies basically on governance, and no matter the caliber of people you have of you don’t have people that are expert in that area you’re likely to have issues and the country need good governance at this point in time, not that we also need social justice to make sure we put things in order, to also see that we also need high level of tech to solve a lot of issues going on in the country.
“At this point in time we need governance, not just governance but a good governance, and that is why we are coming together to see how we can discuss issues that actually related to good governance, and also to see how we can actually come out of this mess we are in this country, so at the end of this meeting we are coming up with a document that we will also present to the government to see how they can make use of our ideas generated from this gathering.” Ekundayo said.
The keynote speaker at the event, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Chief (Mrs) Adejoke Orelope – Adefulire who was ably by her Special Assistant, Rose Keffas commended the organizers of the conference for coming up with a round table gathering that aimed at solving issues that are hindering good governance in the country.
She said, “this event is timely because the world is off track of SDGs, we need to come together, various stakeholders and accelerate the attainment of the SDGs, you can see the sub theme and the theme as it resonate and align with the development goals of Nigeria, and you can see that the five theme is aligned with the sixth transition on what we need to do as a nation, to accelerate the attainment of the SDGs, the world is off track and we need to be on track with the impact of the covid, climate change and crisis, we need to do more to accelerate the attainment of SGDs in Nigeria.
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“We need transformative, catalytic policies and programmes to make sure we achieve the SDGs by 2030.” Adefulire said.
In his contribution, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Adebowale, “This maiden conference of the Commonwealth Scholars Fellows ALUMNI Association of Nigeria this gives opportunity for all those who have benefitted from all aspects of Commonwealth Scholarship for them to be able to come together and network and I know that by the time we will have the communique of this gathering I’m so assure that is going to address many of the developmental challenges that we have.
“This conference gives opportunity for all the stakeholders and members to have handshake with each others in terms of all the research works they’ve carried out and also to be able to move together to greater heights in all their endeavors, the fellowship also gives opportunities for students who are highly career researchers for them to move to all the Commonwealth countries for them to be able to conduct their research and also for them to be able to have a doctorate degrees.
“The level of inflation in the country is so high, there are many of those things we need to address, and I also know that government are also already addressing them.” Adebowale stressed.
In her remarks, Professor Adejoke Olukemi Akinyele, the Chiarman of Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the conference said, “Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows ALUMNI Association of Nigeria is an association that has been in existence since about twelve years.
She noted that Nigerians have been benefitting fo the ALUMNI of Commonwealth Scholarships Commission since 1960.
She further said, “for us to have a period of discussion, as there has never been an occasion for us to come together like this, so as alumni of Commonwealth Scholars and fellows we felt it is very important for us to be able to give back to the society, because many of us from the 1960 have actually benefitted from Commonwealth Scholarships fellowship and this has provided an avenue for us to discuss some global issues and SDGs.
“This are opportunities for us to come together and discuss and bring together notable speakers and also share our own experiences with others in Commonwealth and our contributions to the society at large.” Adejoke said.