The Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities (ARNU) has presented an Award of Excellence to Ibrahim Magu for his displayed patriotism in his fight against corruption.
The Chairman of the association and Registrar of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Mr John Nnabuihe lauded the acting chairman for taking the fight against corruption to greater heights.
The awards were presented at an event titled: ‘Benchmarking the Nigerian Universities to Achieve Global Competitiveness’.
In his keynote address at the occasion, Magu bemoaned the negative effect of corruption on education and the society, saying that the development was causing hardship, economically, socially, politically as the national wealth is depleted.
In his address entitled,” Strengthening Educational Academic Integrity, Role of Universities,” Magu said that it was regrettable that public expenditure meant for economic prosperity is now being channelled to the pockets of a few greedy people with its attendant consequences.
Magu, who was represented at the occasion by the Director of Organisational Support, Dr. Aminu Gusau, said, “Anywhere corruption sets in, it creates problems with devastating effect. Imagine the university, a place where people are moulded and sent out to different sectors of society is becoming corrupt, then the whole society is distorted.
“Corruption in education affects more people than corruption in other sectors…because schools are breeding grounds for future generations. When a child is exposed to corrupt practices at the tender age, he tends to grow with it and with time exhibits the character anywhere he finds himself in the future”.
He said Nigerian universities are in a state of dilemma with challenges that calls for the adoption of out of the box, sincere, and pragmatic solutions.
The EFCC boss said that educational integrity remains the panacea to the problems, adding that “everybody must ensure that integrity is their watchword at all times”.
