 It really is a very special pleasure and a privilege to join you all here today at this special commissioning of this great edifice. Two important ideas converge here today. The first is the importance of relevant ideation, research, and teaching. The second is the power of philanthropy, especially in supporting development ideas. The most advanced nations on earth have the best universities. They all indeed have traditions of investment in research, and the best examples are those countries where private and public investment in education is robust. Research, as you heard from the provost of the College of Medicine, in those best practice countries is crucial, is fundamental, and is directed at solving health, technology, engineering, and a myriad of societal problems. The university is the place where the best ideas and solutions are produced, and they are fine-tuned for use. It's not merely an ivory tower. And I just want to make the point, and I think Professor Miwudu quoted all very accurately, about the importance of research and the place of the University of Ibadan, for example, in the rankings, compared to some of the private universities in particular, I think she mentioned, Covenant University. I'm professor of law myself. I spend practically all my years teaching and researching. So I know the problems very well, and I also happen to know, to a certain extent, some of the solutions. And you see, the easiest thing in the world is to blame the government, oh, that's so easy. Everyone can say, oh, government must do more research, well, government must pay more, government must pay more. The government already pays two-thirds of its budget on personnel, two-thirds. So the best universities in the world, and some of the universities that you've been to, I'm sure that you've seen, are universities where there is aggressive fundraising, aggressive fundraising. A whole department, in many of the best universities, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, all the best universities, have very aggressive departments solely committed to marketing the university and fundraising, solely committed. For example, one of the, I went to the University of Lagos, so that's my alma mater. But I also went to the London School of Economics, that's the University of London. Every month, unfailingly, I get a letter from the London School of Economics asking me to give money. Even if it's 10 pounds, they're always aggressively marketing me, and I've been getting this letter since I left in 1981, unfailingly every month. I get no letter from the University of Lagos. Not one. Nobody has ever come to me to say, are you alumnus? Come and do it. No. And I'm sure it's the same here at the University of Ipadu. There has to be aggressive marketing. No government in the world can ever fund universities to the extent that is required. No government. It has to be aggressively marketed. We have to have programs that we're selling so that the university is making money. It is the private money that sustains universities. Today, Harvard has about $52 billion, more than we have in our reserves. All private money. All private money. So we must aggressively, if Professor Atimo didn't go to Syracuse, but we won't be sitting here, as aggressive marketing, he had to go and talk. That's how it's done. So let us look at what can be done to aggressively market. This is the premier university in the country, the first university in the country. It shouldn't have problems with funding. You should not. There's enough money out there. There's enough money out there, and you can be aggressive about getting this money. The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, it's an important one. And this is because of the great challenges we have in human nutrition today. For the past three years, and I think the point has been made, taking a very active interest in nutrition as chair of the Nutrition Council of Nigeria, and the issues are grave. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty has deepened. Our malnutrition and unhealthy dietary practices have created unique threats to health and productivity for a large segment of our population. A large number of children are undernourished or malnourished, and malnutrition and food insecurity has just made it harder for children to learn and to gain the skills and knowledge that is required to succeed in the workplace. But worse is the mental and physical stunting that is irreversible. So imagine a whole generation of adults who have arrested physical and mental health and the social and economic burden that that places on communities and places on the nation. Imagine the implications of possibly 50% of our population being at risk of irreversible mental and physical stunting if we don't get it right. So I think the work of this foremost institution and this department is well cut out for it. We now have to hone in research. And I think that a lot has been done already. I've looked up quite a bit of the research that this department in particular is doing. And I think we need to hone in the research on public health nutrition. Nutrition and agricultural linkages almost pay attention to food fortification. Nigeria has the capacity locally to manufacture ready to use therapeutic foods, the so-called RUTF, energy, vitamin and mineral rich foods that are used to treat severe acute malnutrition in the country. We also have the potential to produce enough of that RUTF for the whole of Africa. And the projections are that the price of ready to use therapeutic foods is going to increase. That's a projection that with all the food chain problems you have all over the world, these prices are going to increase. So there's a big market there. There's a big economic opportunity there. There are big research opportunities as well. We must research the cheaper options and formulas. I'm aware that the department has played a pivotal role in the national food consumption and micronutrient survey and is a center of excellence for food composition in Nigeria. We must now engage with the government and the public sector so that relevant research must benefit our people. That engagement is so crucial. I found, for example, working on the nutrition council that there isn't enough engagement with the universities. I think it's only the Amadoubello University that has representation today on the nutrition council. Now, this is the foremost department. So this department ought to have representation. And a lot of the research that has been done, there has to be synergy with the public institutions, with the government and all that. Because it's the government that can really use this research. I mean, there's a lot of money being spent on nutrition. We are now creating in every federal ministry. There must be a department of nutrition. So opportunities are being created every day. And these opportunities must be taken by those whose color shape and whose hard work has created the ideas around nutrition. So I think that that synergy between the department here and the government is a very important one. Fortunately, also, many of our food manufacturing partners, such as Dangote, Boa, and Honeywell, are already doing interesting work on food fortification. Perhaps they too should be approached for funding research here. I know that the Canadians do some funding of research here in the department. But there are many of these food companies, Dangote, Boa, who have resources, who were engaging as a government, and who can also fund research if they are approached and if they are aggressively followed up. They will give the resources. The other point of convergence today, and I said there are two points of convergence, is private philanthropy and the public good. Again, the most advanced nations on earth, especially liberal democracies, have traditions of private philanthropy, contributing massively to the development of universities and research. This is why we're also excited about the donation by Chief Kersent in Adebutu, otherwise known as Baba Jebu. I'm sure that for those who think Jebus is stingy, I'm sure you must be thinking differently. I'm sure you must be thinking differently now. Chief Adebutu is one of the most prominent philanthropists in Nigeria. And although he tends to be relatively quiet about his giving, but I know that he's also someone who is so cerebral and well-educated himself that in my conversations with him, you can tell that his concerns about national development, about education, about public health care, human capital development, those are the kinds of issues that concern him. And I know that this sort of support for education is exactly what he loves to do. So I think we should press Chief Adebutu a bit more beyond this auditorium. We should have in this department a Chief Kersent in Adebutu research grant for human nutrition and dietetics. We should have. And trust me, trust me, is not a big deal for him. Just trust me, it's not. So if you go and talk to him properly about this, perhaps Professor Attimo might help again in this respect. And I recall how he first was here. These are people who can whisper a few things in his ears. And I'm sure we'll get some results. I'm glad that he has continually set the pace in supporting human capital development. Through his huge donations, he's also denated, as we've heard, to the University of Lagos. This is the way it must be. Government budgets alone can hardly scratch the surface of our numerous developmental needs. Private capital must kick in and positively directed philanthropy is the best course to take. But the coming together of philanthropy and the needs of universities required forward-looking individuals who understand this synergy. University officials must approach the private people. I think this point has been made. Private people in developing countries have several causes and people making daily requests of them. If you look at the number of requests that are made to well the individuals in Nigeria, it's a daily thing, unlike in many other countries. And people are asking for everything, school fees, give school fees, medical fees. People are always asking. So every public institution that wants philanthropy and wants donations must be aggressive. A whole well-resourced department, and I think this is so important, we just need a department dedicated completely to chasing up donors, to chasing up all the well the individuals. And the good thing is that for every donation that is made, every donation that is made to causes such as this, to social causes, there can also be a tax benefit for the donor. And this is something that we've worked out. We have, for example, the tax credit scheme. Which many big donors have taken advantage of. The road tax credit scheme. So if a donor decides, for example, say a dangote, decides to build a road. And they've done this many times. If they build a road, they get a tax credit for it. And they will build a road in a place that makes sense for them close to their factories and things like that. So we can encourage philanthropy, you know, by ensuring that we target the philanthropy and our request to the tax, to place the causes that are tax-adoptable for the donors, just to make it much more attractive to the donors themselves. But for taking and maintaining the initiative, we must commend the efforts again of Professor Atimo, who pioneered the request to Chief Adibutu. And as we've heard, this was as far back as 2012. And Dr. Thomas Adibutu, who I think it was in 2018, who followed up this request, presented a plan and design to Chief Adibutu and showed the donor the initial costs and all that. So again, let me, on behalf of the visitor to this university, President Mohamudubuari, thank the patriotic and forward-looking philanthropist, Chief Kezintin Adibutu, for the wonderful support given to the University of Abaddon's Department of Nutrition and Dietetics. Dietetics. It is my special privilege and pleasure to officially then commission the KAF auditorium of the Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics for the use of the students and staff of the department and the benefit of the Nigerian people and to the glory of the almighty God. Thank you.