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Tag: Prof. Julius Okojie

  • Okojie bows out as NUC boss

    Prof. Julius Okojie on Friday bowed out as the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), after 10 years in office.

    He handed over to the Deputy Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Chinedu Mafiana.

    Prof. Okojie, at the handing over ceremony at the NUC headquarters in Abuja, advised Mafiana to be courageous in carrying out his duties as the Acting Executive Secretary.

    “I will not miss my position at the NUC, but I will miss my staff,” Okojie indirectly referred to the position’s sensitive role  in the tertiary education system.

    He advised the staff to submit themselves to mentorship and training, as those are the only paths to success.

    With two more years left in his civil service career,Prof. Okojie is expected to return to an academic role at a university.

     

  • NUC urges varsities to access free $4m e-content at NgREN

    NUC urges varsities to access free $4m e-content at NgREN

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) has urged Nigerian universities to access the $4 million EBSCOHost e-content through the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) for free until Dec. 31.

    NUC’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, who made the call in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said such access would enhance the online presence of universities and improve their global ranking.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that EBSCO is a multinational company and provider of research databases, e-journals, e-books and provider of academic e-libraries to schools and corporations.

    He said that NgREN was established to provide an elaborate infrastructural backbone to interconnect all Research and Education Institutions in Nigeria and link them with other Research and Education Networks (RENs) worldwide.

    “NgREN has secured access to EBSCOHost e-content-including e-books, journals, and academic magazines, which will be available for free to all Nigerian Universities until December 31, 2016.

    “These resources valued at about $4 million would, in fact, grow the number of available resources in the nation’s university libraries and as a result, heighten research activities amongst institutions in the Nigerian University System (NUS).

    “By accessing the EBSCOHost e-content, Nigerian Universities stand a better chance of enhancing their position in international university rankings just as in the accreditation of programmes, where library holdings form a major component of the assessment.

    “Universities in Nigeria are hereby encouraged to utilise these resources, which are available on the NgREN at no cost until the end of 2016,’’ he said.

    Okojie said that plans were underway to ensure that Universities on NgREN continued to access EBSCO and other e-content beyond the expiration of the current service.

    He said that EBSCO Information Services, South Africa, was one of the foremost leaders in the provision of quality research content, powerful search technologies and intuitive delivery platforms.

    According to him, the platform also offers premium content in databases, e-books, journals, magazines as well as very versatile discovery tool for searching across all library resources.

    The executive secretary said that since its formal launch in July 2014, the NgREN has made significant progress in reducing the cost of bandwidth for subscriber institutions.

    He said the cost of subscription had reduced from an initial $1,260 megabits per seconds (mbps) to $160 mbps and to a present cost estimate of $50 per mbps.

    “Some other notable achievements of the network include the reduction in travel costs as a result of the video-conferencing facilities and capacity building cost savings through online and remote training modules,’’ he said.

    He said that NUC in partnership with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors established NgREN to ensure that universities could communicate, collaborate, access and share resources across national and international boundaries.

    NAN recalls that NUC and EBSCOHost on April 12 orgainsed a Capacity Development workshop for Nigerian universities to provide training and sensitisation on access and use of EBSCO e-Book Academic Collection.

  • Okorocha seeks review of university curriculum

    Okorocha seeks review of university curriculum

    Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Wednesday urged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to review tertiary education curriculum to ensure that the curriculum is directed towards solving productive problems in key sectors of the economy.

    This, the governor said, would enable young graduates  to become thoroughbred entrepreneurs and professionals  while developing their capacity to become independent in specific fields of their choice.

    Okorocha said this in Abuja on Wednesday when he received a certificate of recognition of the newly established Eastern Palm University in the State from the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie.

    He said that universities were established to focus more on human capital development and to guide students into specific professional areas.

    Okorocha said: “The Eastern Palm University would focus more on human capital development, professionalism, not a situation whereby people read a course and just end up somewhere.

    “It would ensure that people are guided along their talent into a proper profession in order to enable them serve their country. I believe that our education system must be tailored towards developing the resources of our land and not being over import dependent.”

    Earlier, Prof. Okojie urged the governor to ensure all the academic principles of running a university as spelt out by commission are adhered to by the University.

    He called on Okorocha to ensure the running of relevant programmes for the universities.

    Okojie said: “Ensure you take off well. Follow all the procedures and academic rituals and ensure all the standards are met. Eastern Palm university must ensure it it operates programmes that are relevant.

    “We must be very careful in the way we use politics to run our education in this country.”

    With the issuance of certificate of recognition, the University becomes the 42nd  state University and  the 143 University in Nigeria.

  • UniAbuja: No time frame for School of Medicine accreditation — Okojie

    UniAbuja: No time frame for School of Medicine accreditation — Okojie

    The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, says there is no time frame for the accreditation of courses for the University of Abuja School of Medicine.

    Okojie made this known at the opening of a three-day National Stakeholder’s meeting on the Nigerian Research and Education Network in Abuja on Tuesday.

    He said although the students had been clamouring and protesting for the accreditation of the courses, the NUC must ensure that it followed due process to ensure a credible accreditation.

    The executive secretary reiterated the commission’s commitment to ensure that graduates were well equipped and could compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world.

    Okojie had in the wake of the protest by the university’s medical students blamed the university’s former Vice Chancellors, Prof. Nuhu Yaqub, for initiating engineering and medical programmes without approval.

    The university had been embroiled in crisis following the suspension of Engineering, Veterinary, Agriculture and Medical students in April 2012 by the Federal Ministry of Education over non-accreditation.

    Meanwhile, Okojie says the latest development followed NUC’s inspection visit which discovered that the university has failed to equip its community clinic, a basic requirement for medical examination.

    He said that as a result, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, refused to allow the medical students to sit for their final examination.

    Most of the students, NAN learnt, had spent between seven to eight years without moving to the next level and unable to write the MBBS professional examination.

    Engineering students of the university protested in November 2012, over the issue.

    In its efforts to resolve the crisis, the university’s management, in collaboration with the NUC had earlier this year announced the transfer of engineering students to five other universities in the country.