In recognition of his sterling performance as the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Amnesty, which led to drastic reduction in the activities of militants in oil-rich states and other parts of the country, Comrade Kingsley Kuku was recently given an award by the National Association of Ondo State Students (NAOSS), University of Ibadan chapter.
Represented by his friend and former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Comrade Oludare Ogunlana, Kuku, an indigene of Ondo State, said the award would motivate him to do more.
Kuku said he was grateful to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for appointing him as one of his aides.
Professor Akin Iwayemi of the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law, University of Ibadan, spoke on ‘Perspectives on Good Governance and Economic Development in a Democratic States.’
Kuku, who early this year donated a N400m Students’ Union building to his alma mater, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, said that it was in line with his appointment that he decided to give back to the society.
He said he was committed to Ondo State, and that the state would soon produce experts in every fields.
“I am looking forward to an Ondo where the next Steve Jobs will come from,” he said.
He aslo revealed that through his Amnesty Office, more than 1,000 ex-militants, some of who are from Ondo State, have been trained as pilots. He added that these individuals were trained in Germany, Italy and other countries.
In his remark, Ogunlana said he was proud to be back to the institution where the 1994 protest against the General Sani Abacha junta was planned.
As NANS president, he said that he was detained alongside Kuku, boasting that “we jointly contributed, with other Nigerians, to the civil rule the country is currently enjoying.”
He, however, said that it was unfortunate that those who jailed them are those now enjoying what they fought for.
While delivering a lecture on the theme, Professor Akinbolaji Iwayemi of the Centre for Petroleum Energy, Economics and Law, UI, said that Ondo has risen from a dependent state to a less dependent one.
“Ondo is now the sixth oil producing state in the country and what remains is to tap into this. The state also grows food crops which are in large quantity,” he said, adding that soon, Ondo will become the economic hub of the country.
The President, Opara Opeyemi Samuel, a 400- Level student of the Department of History, thanked everyone for the support given to his administration.
Also at the event were Professor Nelson Fashina who supervised Kuku’s thesis as an undergraduate; Professor Adenike Osofisan; Bolanle Olafunmilayo, who represented Governor Olusegun Mimiko, and Evangelist Muyiwa Asakula.
Sikiru Akinola