Atiku gives reason for setting up AUN
Chima Azubuike, Gombe
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, said he was pushed to establish a private university, following his desire to bring development to the country.
Atiku, who is also the founder of American University of Nigeria (AUN), said he was sure about the impact of education to National progress, adding that the venture into establishing a citadel exposed the low performance of education.
He made this disclosure in a virtual goodwill message, at the final reading competition organised by Strengthening Education in North East (SENSE), project in collaboration with AUN and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was observed by our correspondent.
The former Vice President said, “Today marks sixteen years since I started studying in American University ( AUN ). The main reason why I established this university is for it to bring about development in the country and also for it to be a source of national development.
“When we set out with the foundation of this school, we understood that the value of education in our country was very low to the extent that students from (public) secondary schools that needs admission into universities require help due to get their combination right.”
Bemoaning the issues in education, president of AUN, harped the need for students to imbibe requisite skills to compete favourably.
“The method of understanding education especially mathematics and grammar is very important towards helping students to be successful in modern education they choose to study, whether the course that they choose to study is a science, art or commercial course.
“Our position as tertiary institution, we have competent lecturers, some of them are authors of books. These people will help teach the students how they can study with ease as well as give them 21st century composure. Is because of this that the government of America ( USA) took the burden of supporting students by helping the educational institutions we have. We are praying and grateful to the welfare agency and World Countries and America for the opportunity they gave us for us to contribute our quota,” he added.
Also, Chief of Party, Dr. Audu Liman, in a statement said “The American University of Nigeria has been implementing the SENSE project since 2019 with the objective of improving reading skills for two hundred thousand children across Adamawa and Gombe states.”
