Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), says the students of the institution have a mandate to register a company with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), so they can become employers of labour.
According to him, since he took over the leadership of the institution in 2019, he has been able to make some major moves to change the story from “a glorified secondary school.”
His words: “We wanted our students to be able to go anywhere in the world and stand their ground, wanted them to have the world as their choice.
“In other words, when a student finishes, we are saying tap resources from anywhere in the world, not only to build himself but to support his goals and ambitions.
“Our goal is to make sure that our students actually succeed at the end of the day and this is too important to us.
“So, in four years, if you ask me, I will say we have a solid academic improvement in which our staff are stronger than they were before. People are now scholars of the world. They are now being recognised around the world, and our scholars are now taking the name of the school globally with respect.”
Speaking on one of the feats achieved, in a chat with The Cable, he disclosed that “more than 1,000 of our students have registered their companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).”
“Some of these students are graduating; some are in the 300 level with opportunities to practise on the companies they have registered. One thing we say to our students is that we are not giving them certificates to go and look for employment. We are charging you to employ yourself and create wealth. We are charging our students to change their mindsets and not think that the government or some other people are there to take them on or that they should go home and continue to depend on their parents.
“It is now a law in this university that no student will graduate without having a company registered with CAC.
“You must register your company a year or two before you graduate, and within those years, you must be practising within and outside the university. Creating wealth and understanding what it is, we will have mentors for you all over Nigeria. You will interact with the mentors in terms of what you are doing. So, it is an enormous thing that we have been able to put together over these four years,” he added.
