The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UDUS

  • TETFund spends N7b in UDUS

    Not less than N7 billion has been spent by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) on projects and trainings at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto from 2011 to date, said  TETFund Executive Secretary, Dr Abdullahi Baffa.

    Baffa made the disclosure in Sokoto at the weekend,while commissioning a N300 million Centre For Advanced Medical Research and Training( CAMRET) at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital.

    He said the projects were executed at the two campuses of the university, as well as the teaching hospital.

    Some of the projects, Baffa noted, include: the Centres of Urology and Nephrology; Centre for Research in Physical Sciences, video conferencing centres, as well as extension of fibre optic cables for internet, among others.

    Baffa said TETFund has also bankrolled several staff of the institution on various conferences, within and outside Nigeria. This is in addition to sponsoring workers’ post graduate studies within and outside Nigeria.

    ‘’The Federal Government is very much concerned about improving access to quality education, as well as medical education in particular,” Baffa began.

    ‘’’TETFund will continue to do everything humanly possible to make Nigerian public tertiary institutions meet global competitiveness.

    ‘’ This is in the area of shoring up quality teaching, research and community service, under the most peaceful atmosphere.

    ‘’ This will also be done irrespective of race, gender, nationality or religion.’’

    In his remarks, the university’s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council Justice Pearl Enejere (rtd), said: “TETFund is a great example of how the fund is facilitating effective teaching and learning in the country.

    ‘’With this pioneering centre( CAMRET)  in Nigeria, the students of the university will be able to compete globally.’’

    ‘’ Without TETFUND, we might have probably parked our loads and sought other  jobs, elsewhere,” added the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru.

  • UDUS students bemoan results’ delay

    Graduates of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) have expressed sadness over the delay in the release of their results, eight months after they wrote their final examination.

    The graduates complained that the development was delaying their deployment in the National Youth Service. They took to social media platforms to express their grievances, describing the delay as “pathetic”.

    Ridwan Ibrahim, who graduated from the Law Faculty, said the school management’s action prevented him from proceeding to the Law School.

    He said: “None of us who graduated from the Faculty of Law has been mobilised to go to Law School because of the delay in processing our results. In the last eight month, many of us have been jobless, since we don’t have statement of result to show we graduated from the school.”

    Ridwan, who lamented the delay, wondered how long it would take him to get his first degree, having spent six years in the institution instead of five years, because of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strikes.

    For Olawumi Yasin, the insitution’s action was a was intended to keep students in bondage. He said it was insensitive for the management to be silent on the matter, saying students could be forced to protest if nothing was done.

    Sarat Alabidun, who graduated from Applied Chemistry, said she needed to apply for a scholarship for her Master’s programme, but said the inability to get her statement of result could truncate her plans.

    “Even if I will not be mobilised for National Youth Service now, the institution should release my statement of result to enable me further my studies,” she said.

    Ibrahim Hamman, who graduated from the Department of Geography, said eight months was enough for the institution to release the results. “If their reason for delaying the result is lack of capacity to release all the results at once, they can get it done in batches,” Ibrahim said.

    He advised the institution management to embrace technology, citing Al-Hikmah University in Ilorin, Kwara State, which releases students’ results immediately after  its final examination.

    Attahiru Ahmad Musa, who finished his post-graduate programme in 2013, also bemoaned the continued delay.

    The Dean of Students’Affairs, Prof Adamu Aliero, urged the graduates to be patient, promising that the notification would soon be released.

    Aliero, who did not give reasons for the delay in releasing the students’ notification, said: “We are aware of the challenges preventing us from mobilising our students for National Youth Service this year. But, to a degree of certainty, they will be mobilised in the next batch.”

  • UDUS Law faculty holds grand moot court

    The Faculty of Law of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDUS), Sokoto has held a grand moot trial to expose law students to litigation.

    The trial, which was criminal, was held between the 500-Level and a combination of 100 to 400 Level students of the faculty.

    Chief Magistrate of Sokoto State Judiciary, Justice Ahmad Shuaib, sat as judge at the trial.

    Mukhtar Bodinga, a senior magistrate, Sokoto State Judiciary; the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law, Dr. M. D. Mahmud; and other lecturers from the faculty also witnessed the trial.

    In his opening remarks, Mahmud said the moot trial was aimed at grooming the students to argue cases.

    He expressed gratitude to the presiding judge for sparing time to attend the occasion.

    Students from 500-Level appeared for the State (prosecution) while the 100- 400 levels students appeared for the accused persons (defendant).

    The accused were charged for criminal conspiracy – theft and rape- punishable under sections 97, 287 and 283 of the Penal Code.

    After hearing the argument of both parties and with careful considerations of the evidences adduced by both parties, the court held that the prosecution counsel were able to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt and, therefore, sentenced the accused persons to six months imprisonment each, without the option of fine for the offence of Criminal conspiracy; two years imprisonment with the option of N10,000 fine for the offence of theft; and 20 years imprisonment with hard labour for the offence of rape.

    The Judge praised the students’ performance, saying there was neither a winner nor a loser.

    He advised them to be good ambassadors of the faculty and uphold the good legacy laid down by their predecessors, noting that the faculty had produced many Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), attorney generals and judges, including himself.

    “The only thing we are yet to have is a Supreme Court Judge and we are about to have one,” he said.

    A lecturer, Dr Ibrahim Abdullahi, urged the students to see their lecturers as role models, noting that hard work should be their priority.

    The leading counsel for the prosecution, A.A. Orire, said the benefit of the trial was to ensure that law students have broad knowledge of the law in practice and to prepare them for future occurrence in relation to legal profession.

    Also speaking, the leading counsel for the defendant, Abdulrasheed Isiaka, said the moot trial exposed the students to the manners and ways of the courts.

    “If students of law are acquainted with the procedures here, it would be easy for them at the law school and in the nearest future,” he said.

    Gifts and certificates were presented to Justice Ahmad Shuaib and Dr Abdullah for their support towards the success of the programme.

  • UDUS gets NUC nod for Engineering

    Vice Chancellor of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Prof Abdullahi Zuru says the National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved for the institution to run the Engineering programme from 2016/2017 academic session.

    Zuru told journalists on Tuesday that the courses include Civil, Electrical, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering.

    “The approval followed the visit of an accreditation committee from the NUC”, he said.

    With the speed of repairs of roads and the collapsed bridge leading to the institution, Zuru said academic activities would soon pick up steam.

    The bridges collapsed six years ago due to flood disaster.  This affected movement in and out of the institution and environs.

    “With the speed at which the work is moving, soon it will be completed?.  As soon as it is completed, activities will be in full swing in the institution.

    “As you can see, the contracting firm has mobilised men and resources to site which is a positive indication that they are serious and ready to complete the work within the earliest possible time”, he pointed out,” he said.

    ?The Vice Chancellor appealed to members of the communities to be patient as the work progressed.

    ?He praised the timely intervention of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal two months ago and the Minister of Works, Babatunde Raji Fashola while also appealing to the Minister to assist with the rehabilitation of the institution’s road network currently in bad shape.

    On the TSA policy, the Vice Chancellor? applauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s sense of accountability and prudence in managing resources to avoid misconduct.

    “The policy encourages self reliance?, checks impropriety and judicious use of funds especially? in institutions of learning where we have collaboration with foundations which involves grants for research. For example the Bill and Melinda ?Gates.

    “Initially, we had some problems on how to access our funds for research but the Federal Ministry of Finance has worked out measures that simplifies our activities in that direction,” he explained.

  • Fire at UDUS hostel marts

    Fire at UDUS hostel marts

    Properties worth millions of naira were destroyed in a night fire at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), last week. The incident happened at the mini-marts attached to the Hall of Residence.

    The fire, which started at some minutes past 10 p.m., was said to have been caused by power surge in one of the marts. Four shops were completely razed before the intervention of the Sokoto State Fire Service. The affected shops were a beauty salon, a cosmetic shop and two other stores on the same axis.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the owners of the shops were not around when the fire started. Eyewitnesses said the inferno was not immediately noticed when it started. It was learnt that some goods were moved out of the cosmetic shop, but sympathisers, who were mainly students, could not move any materials out of the  affected shops.

    There has not been an official reaction to the incident, but top management officials of the school visited the site last Friday to ascertain the extent of the damage.

  • How to make UDUS a better campus

    Pride itself as the most peaceful campus in the country, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), formerly  University of Sokoto, is one of the 12 federal universities established in 1975. The varsity took off on a temporary site now called city campus while its permanent site was being developed.

    After the campus was moved to its permanent site, the management retained some disciplines, such Veterinary Medicine, Health Sciences and Islamic Studies, among others in city campus. This, in opinion of some people, made the school to lag behind in this era of digitalisation and technology-driven development.

    However, there are some ideas that can boost the social and academic growth of school. The aim of the present management is to make the school the best in Nigeria and one of the best in the world. My rational thinking needs to be reviewed by the management if we want to see improvement in the university.

    Firstly, the staff-student relationship must be rebuilt. It is instructive to note here that there has been no good relationship between students and lecturers. Some lectures are not friendly, because they think students can misuse the opportunity if they allow them to get close. If there is a good relationship, students will benefit and achieve their academic aims.

    Management should also be conscious of the school calendar. Normal period for a session is 34 weeks, but we sometimes have first semester to extend to six to seven months and second semester, four to five months. Management should look into this and make amendment.

    What is the state of the school hostel? While the management must be commended for making the school hostels conducive for students, it must be pointed out that more hostels are needed to accommodate more students. The inadequate accommodation has led to a phenomenon now known on campus as Moroko, which is slang for squatting. Students must also be made to maintain hygiene in the Halls of Residence.

    In 21 Century, technology is playing a key role in the development of higher institutions. To tap the opportunity, the challenges students face in the newly-introduced online registration must be addressed. The problem of registration has subjected students to untold hardship more than when they needed to carry their course forms from one department to another. The management should review the bottleneck and solve the problem. Also, in this era of Internet, missing grade should have been a thing of the past.

    While there are people who claim to be students, it is pertinent to enforce the use of identity cards to identify who is not a student. Management needs to make it compulsory for every student to have ID card hung around the neck to avoid embarrassment.

    Final year students should also see their results being released on time before they are mobilised for National Youth Service. As it is done in many schools, graduating students should start their exams ahead of their junior colleagues to enable them see their results on time.

    The social life on the campus must also be boosted vigorously. The opinion many people have about UDUS as Islamic school is understandable, because of its location and perhaps, the absence of social events that can build students’ relationship. Let there be more social activities.

    On infrastructure, I believe the university road is needed to be made a dual carriage, while there should be provision of concrete walkway on the sides. Old buildings should be renovated. School Bus Stop is also needed to be relocated to another location to stop noise in the academic area. The school would witness academic growth if more faculties and laboratories are built.

    To boost sport on the campus, a lot of things are needed to be put in place to make way for sport fiesta, such as inter-faculty football contest.

    Having a standard stadium that will have hockey court, volleyball and basketball pitches, table tennis section and lawn tennis yard is not a bad idea.

    The yoke of tribalism must be fought on the campus. Some students from the North still believe that they rights to lead students’ bodies and want their colleagues from the South not to dare contesting against them. We are in school to acquire knowledge, tribal politics should be discouraged in any election being organised by students.

    On hostel security, I can confirm that majority of the students unanimously kick against activities of the so-called Yaro boys and girls. Their presence in the hostel has more disadvantages than any benefit students may be deriving from it. They must be stopped from coming to hostels, because of security of students.

    If the management can meet these conditions, learning would be highly conducive for students and it would improve the academic rating of the university.

     

     

  • Club trains students

    The Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) chapter of Junior Chamber International of Nigeria (JCIN), a humanitarian organisation, has held its yearly officers’ training, with the theme: Venture creation and healthy living.

    The event took place at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) Centre. The participants included members of the club and representatives of students’ associations.

    During the training, the JCIN president, Bashir Abdulkadir, a 300-Level Applied Chemistry student, took participants through the preliminary stages in the production of liquid soap. The participants were also trained in fish farming business by Yahaya Mallam of the Fisheries Department. He showed the trainees rudiments of fish farming, technicalities and challenges involved, as well as distribution of the fish product.

    The JCIN Staff Adviser, Aishah Umar, who is a lecturer at the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, engaged the participants on how to earn living from their bedroom. She explained how the students could use their leisure time to make extra cash.

    She said “bedroom business” could solve financial burden on the students, recounting how she started her own “bedroom business”, and gave them tips on how to start and manage such business.

    A member of the club, Asmau Badaru Usman, a 200-Level Zoology student, took participants through a practical class on the making of royal pancake, which she said involved a lightly fried pancake garnished with a palatable sauce made with a variety of ingredients.

    There was also a training conducted by Dr Razak Atata, a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who took the participants through hygiene training.

    He enlightened them on the dangers of not being conscious of cleanliness and discussed various ways of maintaining such, including regular washing of hands, adequate care of the environment and one’s body.

    The training ended with presentation of certificates to participants.

  • UDUS students seek improved ICT

    Students of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS)  have taken to social media and other online platforms to decry the poor state of information technology in the institution. The students believe that, the university, unlike its counterparts in the region, is reluctant to embrace the ICT , which they said could slow down progress of the institution.

    The students want the management to take advantage of the Internet to improve service delivery. They praised the authorities on the introduction of online registration for accommodation, stressing that the management could do more.

    Abdulbasit Adewole, a 300-Level Law student, said the university’s technological rating was not encouraging. He suggests that the school could take up the challenge to bring succor to the situation.

    Ibrahim Sodiq, a student of Physics Education, believes the school lags behind in technology. He wrote: “Most of our activities are still being done manually. Processing of results in takes time and this is because we are lagging behind in the use of technology. Only a few lecturers give online assignments.”

    Abdulhafeez Adebayo, a 400-Level Computer Science student, disagreed that the university does not make use of technology. He said the institution was making efforts to build on its technological strength and make its working smooth.

    “The management has demonstrated its readiness to build on its ICT facilities, which would enable her students and staff to register for biometric security system and e-learning system,” he stated.

    He said the biometric system was part of the recommendations proposed at the last National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOS) conference held in the university auditorium.

    On the introduction of the computer-based tests, Adebayo said the institution had everything needed for its implementation but said students needed to be trained on the use of the facility before use.

    The former Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr Ibrahim Magawata, said that the construction of a standard ICT centre had been sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria, adding that work was in progress towards its completion.

  • UDUS VC seeks team work, excellence

    The new Vice-Chancellor of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Prof Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, has pledged to further advance the university as a custodian of knowledge through collective responsibility.

    Zuru, who made the pledge during his maiden meeting with the management of the university shortly after assuming office, promised not to compromise the high academic standard to sustain the university’s record of academic excellence.

    Zuru assured of his readiness to work with the management team as a team towards attaining UDUS’ lofty goals.

    Until his appointment, Prof Zuru was the Vice-Chancellor of Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero. He is also a former UDUS’ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Director, Sokoto Energy Research Centre and holder of Petroleum Technology and Development Fund (PTDF) endowment chair in Petroleum Chemistry

    Earlier, UDUS’ Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof Muhammad Lawal Amadu had congratulated Zuru, adding that the management was ready to work with him. He advised him to come up with decisions that are  in the best interest of the university.

    Amadu said management was looking forward to a prosperous tenure under Zuru’s leadership.

    Thereafter, the meeting featured handing over.

  • Campus journalists discuss

    Campus journalists discuss

    For three days, members of the National Association of Campus Journalists at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) were trained by professionals in print and electronic media. The programme was organised by campus journalists to train members on the basic and fundamentals of journalism. It was held at the auditorium of the Sokoto Energy Research Centre with the theme: The role of the media in National security.

    Journalists in Sokoto State, including the Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mallam Labaran Dundaye, Editor of The Path, Sir Ahmad Shehu, The General Manager of Nigerian Television Authority, Mallam Abu Shekara and representative of the Commissioner for Information, Mallam Nasir Dalandi Bako, spoke on basic writing skill, ethics of journalism, its legal aspect and new media.

    At the closing ceremony, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof M.L. Ahamadu, praised the effort of the campus journalists for putting together the workshop for its members, stating that it would go a long way in enhancing effective journalism on campus. He urged the campus writers to be conscious of ensuring a crime free campus at all time through their publications.

    The outgoing Dean of Students, Dr Ibrahim Magawatta, expressed delight at the programme and urged the association to continue to inform, educate, entertain and criticise constructively the campus through their writings.

    Some participant who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE expressed satisfaction on the training. Sarat Alabidun, said: “The training was fantastic and I enjoyed every bit of the sessions.”