Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on young Nigerians to reject campaigns of division, segregation, discrimination and marginalisation.
Obasanjo made the appeal on Saturday in a recorded video message after receiving an honorary doctorate from Skyline University Nigeria in Kano during the institution’s fifth convocation.
He told youths, irrespective of tribe, religion or age, that they must be the architects of their own future and fortune.
He added that they have to struggle for what they want, because salvation will not come from heaven.
The former president said young people must be “positively disruptive” to bring about the change they desire.
He noted that most leaders of the pre-independence, independence and post-independence eras were young and active, and that the country benefited from their activism.
He named Aminu Kano and Anthony Enahoro as examples, and said the military era was not much different. He also said he and the late Head of State, Murtala Muhammad, spearheaded change in the country.
Obasanjo was honoured alongside Prof. Abubakar Adamu-Rasheed, former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), and Mrs Vadana Luthra.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ajith Kumar, announced that the NUC had approved new programmes for the university.
He said Skyline is the first university in North-West Nigeria to receive approval for a B.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence, a development he said reflects the institution’s commitment to technology-driven education in the region.
Kumar also disclosed that the university has awarded 50 per cent scholarships to all toppers to pursue postgraduate programmes at the institution.
A total of 237 students graduated with various degrees at the ceremony. An earlier report had put the number of graduands at 236.
The convocation also marked the university’s first award of doctorate degrees.