The Abdul Samad Rabiu Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was opened by Vice President Kashim Shettima on Saturday at the University of Maiduguri in Borno State.
The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative built and gave the N1 billion center to the institution in order to foster innovation and entrepreneurship among scholars and students.
The university awarded honorary doctorates to Shettima and Abdul Samad Rabiu during its 24th combined convocation, which took place on Saturday.
“On behalf of President Bola Tinubu, who is the visitor to this university, I hereby commission this centre,” VP Shettima said.
“The centre is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Tinubu administration for the rapid resuscitation and prosperity of the economy,” he added, as he called for the donation of more of such facilities by other wealthy individuals and corporate bodies.
In his remarks, the Chairman, BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, said the gesture was part of the corporate social responsibility of the conglomerate and ASR Africa Initiative to facilitate and accelerate the economic growth and development of the country.
“The centre is important in two respects for the university, which has prioritised entrepreneurial training,” the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Aliyu Shugaba, said in his welcome address at the occasion.
He added, “First, it physically offers the gigantic and befitting edifice for entrepreneurial training in the university. Secondly, it provides the best prospect for the necessary paradigm shift in entrepreneurial learning.”
He lamented that “despite the three months training provided in entrepreneurship and over 70,000 students exposed to it, the objective of creating enterprises by the students at graduation has not been realised.”
He said the Abdul Samad Centre is expected to remedy the situation and foster a thriving innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem that encourages creativity, collaboration and experimentation.
Shugaba added that the new centre would provide a platform for individuals and grow new ventures, creating a social and economic impact in the process.
“In the future products of the centre will be capable of creating enterprises for self-employment,” he said.