Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called for scholarships for talented African youths who are disadvantaged by low incomes.
Jonathan made the call in his remarks during the 11th graduation ceremony of the Cavendish University Uganda (CUU), Kampala.
Jonathan, who is the Chancellor of the University, in his remarks made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, assured the University of his continued support.
“We will continue to focus on removing barriers to access of higher education for many African youths who are talented but disadvantaged by low incomes.
“We will therefore need to look for scholarships for the talented but poor youths, even if it means connecting them to loan schemes where they can pay later,” Jonathan said.
The former Nigeria president also advocated for collaboration between academia and industry within African continent to address some of the challenges facing the region.
“We need to engage industry across the region and the continent with a view to creating meaningful and productive academia-industry partnerships.
“This will work better if the academia supports industry with action research to strengthen production, distribution and marketing while industry supports the university.
Jonathan commended the CUU leadership’s efforts to surpass the school pre-pandemic performance at a time when other universities were still struggling to recover from the effects of COVID-19.
He also commended CUU’s collaboration with other universities and institutions, saying “I know this leads to exchange of ideas and creation of opportunities for students and faculty in the collaborating institutions.