The newly established Muhammad Kamaldeen University (MKU), Ilorin, Kwara State, has matriculated its first set of 146 students, announcing that the freshmen would have the opportunity to register their new companies for over a $1,000 startup fee.
Speaking during the ceremony, the vice chancellor of the university, Professor Rasheed Jimoh, said that the institution had developed an innovative course that will equip the new students with MKU’s startup of over 1,000 USD even before registration of their proposed companies.
He said the university has introduced initiatives that will equip the students for critical thinking to enable them to cope with global competitiveness, especially in the emerging gig economy.
“One of such initiatives was the development of innovative courses such as MKU-GS 112: Initiative Thinking and Idea Creation, purposely to equip our students right from their first semester with necessary entrepreneurship and innovative skills for seamless navigation in the emerging gig economy.
“As a follow-up to this course, the university shall facilitate the registration of startup companies for the selected viable ideas generated by teams of students through the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and assist the startup to scale through investments in the companies. The goal is to achieve MKU’s startup with over 1,000 USD before registration. The management engaged an expert outside Nigeria to teach this course.
Jimoh said the university had taken off with 15 academic programmes approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC), assuring that by October this year another set of students will be admitted for additional new programmes.
The matriculation ceremony also featured the investiture of the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambiri, as the chancellor, and Professor Shuaib Abdulraheem as the pro-chancellor of the university.
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State was represented at the event by his senior adviser/counsellor, Alhaji Saadu Salahu, who was supported by the non-executive director of NNPCL, Dr. Ghali Alaaya, the special adviser on media, Alhaji Bashir Adigun, and the senior special assistant on religion (Islam), Alhaji Ibrahim Danmaigoro.
In his remarks, the chancellor of the university, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambiri, urged those seeking university admission to take advantage of the uniqueness of MKU.
The monarch paid glowing tributes to the founder of the Ansarul Islam Society of Nigeria, the late Sheikh Muhammad Kamaldeen Al-Adabbiy, for fusing Islamic education with Western education, which eventually culminated in the establishment of MKU in his memory.
