The University of Ilorin Alumni Association has restated its commitment to the development of the University especially in the area of infrastructure and maintenance of standards.

The National President of the Association, Dr. (Mrs.) Rhoda Olape Oduwaiye, who made this known in an interview with Unilorin Bulletin last Thursday (February 18, 2016), also highlighted forward-looking plans by the body for the alma mater in order to tackle the challenge of accommodation on campus.

She disclosed that the alumni body would soon commence the building of another hostel block to ease the accommodation challenges facing the students on campus. "The demand is very high, students live off campus where they are not very comfortable. Most students love our hostel because of the standard and we want the students to feel at home even while they are in school. Our major focus is to help provide accommodation in our own small way for the students", she said.

According to Dr. Oduwaye, the Alumni Association had also written to the University for a piece of land where it intends to build an Alumni Centre, which will house a secretariat office for the Association, a Conference hall, an entrepreneurship centre, a business centre and a guest inn. She further disclosed that the body is working towards having a befitting vehicle to ease the movement and operations of the secretariat this year.

She said, "The University researcher's lodge is a beautiful piece but it is a little above the means of many people. We want ours to be within the means of the people, say like five thousand naira per night. People who come for conferences and parents who come to visit their wards and children in the University don't have to go to town to get hotels. We plan on having entrepreneurship centre where students and people from outside can come and learn different vocations and trades like fashion designing, painting and so on."

While admitting that funding was a crucial matter in implementation of projects, she said, "It is a big project but I know that with the support of all Alumni members in Nigeria and abroad, we are going to achieve it".

"Our major resources for now are through membership fee, but we are putting in place other sources of generating income. For instance we want to put a proposal for farming and the proceeds are going to yield money and it will take just one year. We will start with plants (grains) that will yield within a year and sell. We have so many great and good spirited Alumni members who are all over the world and when we reach them and they know that we are very committed and we have a project at hand, they will definitely contribute to the project."