LAUTECH VC Receives Kwame Nkrumah Grow Africa Excellence Award

The Vice Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Professor Razaq Olatunde Rom Kalilu, has been honoured with the Kwame Nkrumah Grow Africa Excellence Award as Icon of Public Service Renaissance.

The recognition was conferred on him at his office on the LAUTECH campus by the Grow Africa Youths Initiative (GAYI), in acknowledgement of his exemplary leadership qualities and contributions to public service.

Presenting the award, GAYI President, Comrade Ozim Temple, explained that the organisation is focused on addressing critical challenges confronting Africa’s youths, particularly drug abuse and irregular migration. He was accompanied by the General Secretary, Hon. Donald Akufor, and Deputy Chairman of the Grow Africa Committee on Drug Abuse Sensitization, Hon. Dada Musa.

In his response, Professor Kalilu described drug abuse and indiscriminate migration as products of misplaced priorities among young people and the decline of family values across the continent. He condemned the growing wave of mass migration of African youths to Europe and other parts of the world, urging them instead to remain in Africa and contribute to its growth and development.

The Vice Chancellor further challenged GAYI to focus on restoring Africa’s traditional values of communal responsibility in raising children, stressing that such values once gave strength to African societies. He pledged that LAUTECH under his leadership would partner with GAYI and other like-minded organisations committed to rebuilding the foundations of Africa’s socio-cultural identity.