By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja
The new Vice Chancellor, Federal University Lokoja,(FUL), kogi state, Prof.Olayemi Akinwumi, has pledged to make the university number one among Universities in Nigeria.
Akinwumi made the promise on Monday in Lokoja at the handing over ceremony in Lokoja, the state capital.
He also promised to run an all inclusive administration that would ensure the rapid growth and development as well as upstage other universities ahead of it in the present ranking .
The new vice chancellor, an erudite professor of African history and the third vice chancellor of the 10-year-old university,gave lauded the first vice chancellor Prof. A.Rafindadi and the successor, Prof.Angela Freeman Miri for the their outstanding contributions to the footing and rapid growth of the university.
“The university, in 10 years, has attracted a solid academic, administrative and technical staff and attracted students from all over the country.
“My primary goal is to add value to the university stated mission, which is to be the best among the nine newly-established Federal universities and one of the 10-top ranking universities in Africa.
” I just know what I need to do,if Federal University, Lokoja is to move to the top-10. The first part of the vision is relatively more straight-forward. I have personally been to this universities, 11 federal universities established in 2011
FULe currently ranks seventh among the 11 Federal Universities established in 2012, 78th in Nigeria, 255th in Africa and 10,600th in the world and in this category, the top three universities are Dutse, Oye-Ekiti and Tashere.
He further assured that efforts to improve on the ranking had commenced, adding that coupled with his local and global experience, the journey to the top would be achieved with all hands on deck.
He called on the students and staff of the university to contribute the cause of raising the bar of the institution to the desired level.
” The university has a unique mission to train employable graduates through competency-based teaching, applied research and practical community service to the catchment area, Africa and the world.
“At the interview that gave me this job, I submitted a vision plan that outlined what I will do if I get the job. Now that I have the job, I have reviewed the plan alongside the university’s strategic plan.
“I will share the plan which is built on ten focal areas that will be shared with an expanded management committee and subsequently with the Senate, so that it will be adopted and truly owned by the university,”he said.
The erudite professor promised to hit the ground running by growing bottom line and monitoring evaluation and benchmarking which will be taken seriously and driven by internal mechanism and external watch agents.
He assured the university community of his determination to maximise old and new opportunities derivable from the pandemic challenges to boost academic excellence in the institution.
“We will transfer our campus to a beautiful green one. All new undergraduate and postgraduate students must plant and nurture and economic tree, from entry to graduation and the time I complete my term in 1,825 days, we should have a minimum of 10,000 economic trees on our campus.
“We will map and capture all essential data for education, social and economic services and a repository of information and knowledge.
“As digital natives, our students will be equipped with skills that will help them understand the science of numbers and how to use numbers to make decisions.
” Sports and entertainment will also be promoted vigorously under my watch. We will identify a few essential sports and grow their participation so that a national champion in one of them will emerge in three years,”he said.
