The people of Ilorin Emirate in Kwara State, on Monday, called on the federal government to rename the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) after the founder of the Alimi Dynasty, Sheikh Alimi ibn Solihu ibn Janta.
The people also requested the Kwara State government to direct all heads of government offices, captain of industries and chairmen of the five local government areas in Ilorin Emirate to henceforth display the portrait of the Emir of Ilorin, alongside the official portraits of the President and governor in their offices.
The president of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Alh Aliyu Otta-Uthman, made the appeal on behalf of the people of the Emirate in the address he presented at the opening of the 58th national conference of the union held at the forecourt of the Emir’s palace in Ilorin.
While praising the state government for its giant strides in the education sector, the IEDPU president appealed to the state government to site the proposed Kwara State University of Education within Ilorin metropolis.
Otta-Uthman also called for the establishment of a Kwara State University of Science and Technology, Ilorin “which would serve as a training institution where some of our gifted and talented indigenes can develop their inventive acumen and get certified for the needed technological and and economic development of not only our state but of the nation in general”.
On renaming of the University of Ilorin after Sheikh Alimi, the IEDPU president said: “An equally sublime request, which is long overdue, is the renaming of University of Ilorin after Sheikh Alimi to be called Sheikh Alimi University, Ilorin in honour of Sheikh Alimi ibn Solihu ibn Janta, the founder of the Alimi Dynasty just like was done for his contemporaries like Uthman Danfodiyo University Sokoto, named after Sheikh Uthman Danfodiyo, the founder of Sokoto caliphate and Modibo Adama University Yola, named after Adama ibn Ardo Hassana, the founder of Adamawa Emirate.
“In the light of these precedencies, we fervently call on the state government to take our request for the renaming of University of Ilorin as ‘Sheikh Alimi University, Ilorin’ in honour of the founder of the southernmost Emirate in Nigeria to the National Assembly through the Senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District and his colleagues in the House of Representatives. We know our representatives are up to the task and its our hope that the state government would do the needful to actualise this noble course.”
To ensure security of lives and property in the state, Otta-Uthman called for increased budgetary allocation to agriculture to create more job opportunities for the people.
“The union wishes to reiterate the need for government at all levels to pay attention to the menace of high rate of unemployment which has been on the increase and thereby breeding criminalities in our society.We are therefore advocating for enabling environments for farmers to survive, while urging the government to put mechanism in place to ensure that her supports meant for succor to farmers get to the real farmers and the needies. This will ensure food sufficiency for Kwarans and draw the attention of the youth away from thuggery, cybercrime, cultism and other forms of social vices,” Otta-Uthman stated.
The IEDPU president listed his major achievements to include the construction of a Skills Acquisition Centre and the union’s Central Mosque located within the premises of the union’s national headquarters at Gerin Alimi area, Ilorin.
In his remarks, the Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, promised a renewal expansion for Ilorin as the state capital to prevent it from becoming a slum.
He urged the leadership of IEDPU and the entire people of Ilorin Emirate to key into the government policies aimed at making the state a better place for all to live.
The Emir of Ilorin, in his remarks, thanked Governor AbdulRazaq for his passion for the development of Ilorin and Kwara as a whole, and hailed him for women inclusion in his administration