The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, has identified education as a critical foundation of every good thing in life.

Ambali said this in Ilorin at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Pen School, a brainchild of the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

He, therefore, urged parents and other stakeholders in the education sector to give their children the best form of education, especially at the basic level.

The Vice-Chancellor, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs of the university, Mr Kunle Akogun, said the event showed a paradigm shift in the perception of NUJ as a professional body.

He said the ceremony also testified to the fact that journalists were responsible citizens whom were contributing their quota to the growth and development of education in the society.

Ambali urged members of the NUJ to cooperate with the leadership of the union in the state to ensure that the laudable project did not die.

"Journalists here are at the forefront of living up to the mantra of saying that education is the foundation of every good thing in life," he said.

He also said that apart from the fact that the school was an epoch-making event, it also showed that journalists in Nigeria were no longer what people used to think of them.

The Chairman of the Kwara NUJ, Malam Abiodun Abdulkareem, assured that the project would be completed before the end of the year.

He said the school would offer qualitative education to its pupils.(NAN)