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Tag: UNILORIN

  • VC praises campus journalists

    VC praises campus journalists

    Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Prof AbdulGaniyu Ambali has commended campus journalists of the institution for promoting the good image of the school.

    The VC praised the student-writers when members of the CAMPUSLIFE Correspondents’ Club visited him in his office last week.

    Ambali attributed the success of his administration to God and the cooperation he received from staff and students. He thanked the campus journalists for recognising his administration efforts in the past one year to develop the university.

    He said: ‘’I appreciate your interest in what our administration is doing in contributing to the development of our school. I urge you to see the university as your home and keep promoting us positively through your reporting. That is not to say you should be silent on areas that need improvement. We want the university to continue to grow and we need positive criticism to achieve that. If you see any lapses, you can alert us in a professional way, but you don’t have to be negative about whatever is going on because this is your home.’’

    Ambali promised to initiate more projects, stressing that his administration was committed to providing improved teaching and conducive learning environment for students, while reiterating his commitment to staff training and improved welfare package.

    He observed that that the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) needed to establish a monitoring committee that would ensure that agreements reached by the two parties are implemented.

    ‘’Whenever agreements are reached, everybody signs; individuals go home with the signed documents, but nobody sits down to mediate between the two parties to ensure that what has been signed is implemented. And that has always being our problem. But if there is a monitoring committee in place, ASUU could go to them and sound a note of warning that an aspect of the agreements is being neglected,’’ he stated.

    Ambali advised Nigerian leaders to shun corruption and said that the best way to tackle Nigeria’s problem was to make food available to everybody and guarantee their future.

    Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Hameed Muritala, a Computer Science student, praised the VC for his achievement, saying that he had surpassed the expectations of students with his style of leadership and achievements in the last one year.

    The university’s Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Kunle Akogun, led the delegation. Other members of the team included Wale Bakare, Alabede Surajudeen and Akorede Shakir.

  • Iyayi: ASUU bans UNILORIN procession

    Iyayi: ASUU bans UNILORIN procession

    The Academic Staff of Universities has placed ban on any procession in honour of the late President of the union, Prof. Festus Iyayi by the University of Ilorin.

    It described as illegal the planned procession by a faction of the union at the university led by Prof. Wahab Egbewole.

    ASUU said it is still mourning the death of its former president and has not approved any procession for its branches, bemoaning what it called “hypocrisy by the illegal and court sacked faction of Prof. Egbewole.”

    A procession notice had been signed by one Dr. Mrs. Binta O. Ibrahim belonging to the Egbewole faction of ASUU, intimating academic staff of planned procession in honour of the late ASUU president.

    The national leadership of ASUU said the union will certainly not stand for any attempt by the illegal group in the University of Ilorin to desecrate the memory of Prof. Iyayi

    In a release issued in Ibadan on Tuesday and signed by the Zonal Coordinators of Ilorin and Ibadan zones, Dr. Ayan Adeleke and Dr. Adesola Nasir respectively, titled: “DO NOT DESECRATE THE MEMORY OF OUR LATE PRESIDENT,” said “The attention of the union has been drawn to attempts by a group led by Prof. Wahab Egbewole of the University of Ilorin to desecrate the memory of the late former President of our union, Prof. Festus Iyayi, by issuing a notice of a so called “procession” for him at the University of Ilorin.”

    ASUU said Prof. Egbewole has been expelled from the union, while his group has been declared illegal by the National Industrial Court.

     

     

  • UNILORIN pays utility bills from IGR

    he Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, has said public utilities, such as water and electricity are funded with internally generated revenue(IGR).

    He said at a briefing that the monthly bill amassed for consuming electricity and water comes to about N13.5 million – far above the N1.8 million allocated by the Federal Government for utilities monthly. The Vice-Chancellor said the university pays about N12 million monthly to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) for electricity and N1.5 million to the Kwara State Water Corporation for its monthly water.

    Ambali stressed that without IGR, there was no way the university could sustain its huge utilities bills.

    The Vice-Chancellor also disclosed that UNILORIN has entered into an agreement with PHCN to provide the university with a dedicated line from Osogbo to ease electricity problem on campus.

     

  • UNILORIN students seek end to strike

    UNILORIN students seek end to strike

    Students of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) have appealed to the Federal Government and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to consider the plight of students and end the ongoing strike.

    The students, who recently resumed for the 2013/2014 academic session, said they were not happy with the strike, stressing that their colleagues had stayed idle at home for more than three months.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, the students bemoaned the lackadaisical attitude of the government to education, urging it to re-negotiate with the striking lecturers and find a way to end the strike in the interest of students.

    “I am not happy with the way the Federal Government is handling this matter. It appears our leaders do not care about the plight of students because their children are either in private universities or studying abroad. That is why they cannot understand the havoc they are causing to our education system. I appeal to both sides to resume negotiations and find ways to end this strike,’’ said Sirajdeen Alabede, a 400-Level student of Geography and Environmental Management.

    Wasiu Alarape, 400-Level Agricultural Science, said no nation can develop with a bad education system, saying it remains the only viable option to a prosperous society.

    He said: “I am not happy to see my friends in other schools staying hopelessly at home due to the irresponsibility of our government. A nation that fails to educate its people will be unsafe. The federal government should meet the demands of ASUU for the good of our education and in the interest of the country.’’

    A 300-Level Law student, who does not want her name in print, said that President Goodluck Jonathan should be reminded that he was once a lecturer before he joined politics. ‘’If a country that has a former university lecturer as president still receives poor attention, especially in the education sector, it means the country is in danger. If something is not done about it, we are telling the world that we are not ready to compete in the global market,’’ she added.

    Other students who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE said the government should fashion out modalities of resolving the crisis and restore confidence in the nation’s educational system.

  • Fed Govt to lecturers: we’ve done our best

    Fed Govt to lecturers: we’ve done our best

    •Delta to implement ‘no work, no pay’

    •Govt to blame for strike, says ex-NUC chief

    •Police stop street protest in Bayelsa

    •UNILORIN VC urges ASUU, Fed Govt to resolve differences

    •UNN students angry

     

    The Federal Government yesterday restated its call that striking university lecturers should return to work in the interest of students.

    Minister of Information Mr Labaran Maku spoke in Abuja during the ministry’s monthly media briefing.

    He said government had conceded to most of the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    Maku said the government’s commitment to resolve the crisis was further demonstrated by its representation by Vice President Namadi Sambo in the dialogue.

    He said: “Salaries have been increased by 54.3 per cent, which is half of our monthly income. But they (lecturers) still insist on their N100 billon allowance.

    “The government offered N30 billion, but after a meeting with the vice president, the government promised another N10 billion, making it N40 billion.

    “The government has also promised N100 billion from the Education Trust Fund and the N40 billon allowance has been paid in many universities. Yet, they are still under lock and key.

    “We are doing infrastructure in the universities. For example, we have 38 new buildings in the University of Benin. No one would want our teachers to suffer because I have worked as a teacher, same as the President. But we cannot give all that they are asking for.

    “No nation can move forward if we all expect the government to give a 100 per cent time and effort to our problems. We run an economy that needs attention in all phases.”

    Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has said the policy of “no work, no pay” would be applied for the ongoing strike by the academic workers of the State University (DELSU) in Abraka.

    The governor spoke on Monday night in Abuja during the fund-raising of N25 billion by the Edwin Kiagbodo Clark Foundation.

    He said the action became necessary since several appeals to the lecturers to call off their strike did not yield any result.

    Uduaghan explained that the “no work, no pay” policy was adopted because ASUU’s demands had no bearing with the lecturers in the state university.

    The governor again urged the striking lecturers to suspend the action.

    He said: “Let me once again appeal to ASUU to listen to the appeals of the Federal Government and Nigerians and resume work in the interest of the students and educational growth in the country.”

    A former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Munzali Jubril, yesterday blamed the Goodluck Jonathan administration for the lingering ASUU strike.

    The government, Jubril said, had been releasing only 34 per cent of funds meant for federal universities, following a document the NUC produced on the funding of federal universities when the last board was in place.

    This funding gap, he said, “now leaves ASUU as the main agitator for funding to be improved and for the funding gaps to be filled”.

    Jubril added: “The government does not listen to its own agencies. If the executive secretaries, right under government, write 100 memos, appear before 100 committees and make 100 submissions, they will amount to nothing.”

    The renowned professor of English and a former Provost of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) spoke in Abuja at the anniversary lecture of the NUC at 50+1.

    He regretted that the government always waited for ASUU to go on strike before giving universities what they deserved.

    The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, promised that the government would resolve the ASUU face-off.

    But he insisted that due process must be followed.

    Wike, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Macjohn Nwaobiala, said: “Indeed, these are turbulent times for higher education in Nigeria, not just because of the current challenges being experienced but more importantly in terms of the direction in which higher education should be going.”

    The police yesterday stopped a street protest organised by the Niger Delta University’s (NDU’s) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

    Police Commissioner Hilary Opara was said to have issued the order to the leadership of ASUU-NDU to stop the protest.

    The aggrieved university lecturers held their protest within the university’s Law Faculty in Yenagoa.

    The placard-carrying lecturers converted the protest to a prayer session, where they prayed to “cast and bind” all the spirits that had prevented the government from honouring its agreement with ASUU.

    The Chairman of ASUU-NDU, Beke Sese, addressed the rally.

    He said the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Governor Seriake Dickson interrogated him few hours to the protest.

    The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Prof Abdulganiyu Ambali, yesterday urged the striking university lecturers and the Federal Government to resolve their differences and end the strike.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • A Vice-Chancellor’s one year of leadership

    A Vice-Chancellor’s one year of leadership

    Given Prof Ishaq Oloyede’s achievements as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), many thought there was nothing a new VC would do except administering the institution. But since Prof Abdulganiu Ambali became the VC, there seems to be no end to structural and academic activities in the school.

    Ambali assumed office on October 16 last year. Yesterday, made it a year he has been in the saddle. In the last one year, however, several projects have been springing up on the campus. In this first year of his five-year tenure, Prof Ambali has completed the UNILORIN Water Factory Complex. The company has started to produce bottled and sachet water. The factory, which cost the institution N55 million, will provide water for students’ consumption and served at ceremonies.

    Prof D. S. Ogunniyi, the Director of UNILORIN Consultancy Services Unit and supervisor of the water project, said: “Apart from the fact that the project will generate revenue for the school, it will also enhance the health of members of the university community because the packaged water is to be produced under strict hygienic conditions.”

    To involve students in the project, the management allowed them to design the packaging.

    “A competition was organised to pick the best design. The management raised a panel for this task and assessed students’ artwork. The best design was picked. We produced the mould and got a company to use the mould to produce the bottle. You can see ‘University of Ilorin’ clearly inscribed on it to discourage counterfeiting,” Ogunniyi explained.

    The project is on the verge of being assessed by the National Agency for Food Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    Another notable milestone of Prof Ambali is the introduction of new identity card called “Combo Card”, which is a smart card with features that allow it to be used for bank transactions and as access key to facilities on campus, such as the Senate Building, the library, the clinic, classrooms, hostels, offices, and guest houses. This is unlike the old card that only served as a means of staff and students’ identification.

    The Combo Card, which would also help to promote the cash-less policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is the first of its kind in Nigeria. It also contains the holder’s blood group specification. It will reduce the carrying of multiple identity cards.

    The VC has also introduced a programme,Talk to your VC, hosted every first week of the month where he speaks live on UNILORIN 89.3fm to list the management’s plan for that month. It is a question-and-answer session that gives students the opportunity to contribute to the administration of the institution.

    To ensure that its graduates are exposed to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills that will make them versatile and enhance e-communication between the students and lecturers, the Ambali-led administration has initiated a policy that will make new students possess computer tablet to drive the move which would start a new era with those coming in because students need to be empowered to face the challenges of the ICT world. Also, all the curricula and courseware will be on the tablet so that one has the whole classroom on your hand.

    Also the university has witnessed construction of buildings and expansion of faculties from 11 to 13 with the creation of Social Science and Management Science while the Department of Science Education has been split into Science Education and Educational Technology departments.

    Students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, praised the strides of Prof Ambali, describing his achievements in the first year as a good omen.

    Sodiq Aroyaya, 400-Level Zoology, said for being able to record pockets of achievements in the first year, despite challenges, showed “Prof Ambali has a good vision for our school.” He wished the VC success in the remaining years.

    Kunle Awoniyi, 300-Level Performing Arts, said: “Prof. Ambali has tried his best with the new programmes he introduced and projects he executed to make the environment suitable for learning. He has shown that he possesses the will to transform UNILORIN into a wold-class institution. I enjoy the Talk to your VC programme because it affords students the platform to express their views without hindrance.”

    Usman Yakubu, 300-Level Geography, said: “Prof Ambali deserves commendation for his achievements and I pray that God will give him power to do more.”

  • ASUU warns UNILORIN on ‘plan’ to share N30b fund

    ASUU warns UNILORIN on ‘plan’ to share N30b fund

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned the authorities of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) not to share the N986.7 million earned allowance disbursed to it by the Federal Government until the end of the ASUU strike.

    The Zonal Coordinator of ASUU (Ilorin Zone), Dr Ayan Adeleke, spoke yesterday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    He said the authentic ASUU Chairman at UNILORIN, Dr. Taiwo Oloruntoba-Oju, had conveyed the position of the union to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof AbdulGaniyu Ambali, that the struggle for funding was still going on.

    The lecturer warned that universities should not betray the struggle by disbursing the earned allowances until the end of the agitation for the union’s demands.

    It was learnt that UNILORIN workers were discussing with the university’s management the modalities to share the university’s share of the N30 billion earned allowances from the Federal Government.

    Dr Adeleke, who denounced the Prof Wahab Egbewole-led faction, said: “The group had been declared illegal by the National Industrial Court. Whatever they are doing is illegal.”

  • UNILORIN dons invent biometric machine

    UNILORIN dons invent biometric machine

    A team of engineers at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has produced a prototype biometric machine that can uniquely recognise biometric features of Nigerians, a major deficiency of imported machines.

    The team leader, Prof. Tunji Samuel Ibiyemi of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, as reported by the internal organ of the institution, said that they used local resources to discover why imported biometric machines cannot adequately recognise physical features of black people.

    Ibiyemi and the three other researchers, Prof. J. Sadiku (Computer Science), Dr. S. A. Aliu and Dr. I. O. Avazi (Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department) studied ‘Biometric Signal Processing for Personal Application and Forensic Application’.

    Using funds provided by the World Bank through the Science and Technology Education Post-Basic (STEP-B) project, the researchers were able to produce a machine that can detect impersonation, economic fraud, multiple voting, examination malpractices, rigging and solve all kinds of security and corruption problems for Nigeria.

    Ibiyemi said foreign biometric machines do not work optimally on black people as they do on whites so cannot produce the desired results.

    He said: “The lack of local content in the making of the machines we use for vital national assignments perhaps explain why government efforts on projects like e-voting, national identity card scheme, security intelligence on criminal citizens had not been yielding enough fruits.

    “An average Chinese recognises Chinese people more easily. Likewise, Americans know one another better. When I was in Britain, any black person could pick any of his friend’s identity card and go anywhere across the country unfettered. Those working at the airports will confirm to you that you need local people to identify one another.

    “Most imported machines don’t recognise tribal marks. These machines raise alarm when they see a masked face. But what we have produced can recognise tribal marks, faces that are masked and faces that are disguised using cosmetics.”

    He said the machine can recognize so many human-related features.

    “We used machines to recognise the human face, human iris, finger prints, toe prints and sole prints. We worked on speaker and speech recognition, signature verification and hand writing verification. What we found is amazing. For example, using any of these parameters, we can get different patterns of iris, fingerprints, toeprints, soleprints that differentiate the 14 billion people in the world,” he said.

    Compared to foreign machines, Ibiyemi said the one developed by his team is cheaper and more functional. While an Iris Scanner from overseas cost N400,000 ($2,500), he said a locally-made one cost only N60, 000 to produce.

    In the course of the research, Ibiyemi said the team created a website for biometric data on black people – the first of its kind worldwide – and has collected millions of data on it.

    “No website is available within Africa for biometric data on black people. Foreign data are populated by white people. We needed black people’s data to work with, so we started our own website. We collected over one million fingerprints, 600,000 toeprints, 200 soleprints, and 374 latent fingerprints. The website is hosted in Italy. We also went to the home of lepers and took 200 soleprints. When we brought them to the laboratory, we discovered that it is easier to recognise people through their soleprints than through their fingerprints,” he said.

    Prof. Ibiyemi, who thanked the Federal Government for making the grant of $250,000 (about N31million) available for the study, he challenged other researchers in the country to access available research funds. He lamented that out of the available $18millon STEP-B funds, only about 10 per cent has so far been accessed by 18 successful researchers nationwide.

     

  • UNILORIN, UCC renew partnership

    The Vice-Chancellors of UNILORIN and Cape Coast, Prof Ambali and Prof. D. D. Kuupole, have expressed their interest in sustaining the partnerships between the two universities.

    The vice-chancellors spoke at the closing of the third joint conference of the two universities at the Centre for Continuous Education Conference Room, UCC.

    The duo said the partnership would grow stronger during their tenures. The ceremony was chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, UCC, Prof. J. N. Buah.

    Ambali appreciated the commitment put into the organisation of the conference, saying that UNILORIN would reciprocate UCC’s hospitality in 2015.

    On his part, Kuupole noted that Nigeria and Ghana share a lot in common.

    In his remarks, Prof Olu Atteh of UNILORIN expressed gratitude to the two vice-chancellors for the support they gave the International Organising Committee to discharge its assignment.

    The high point of the occasion were the presentation of reports and communiqué by conference rapporteurs and presentation of conference certificates to dignitaries.

  • Poly understudies IGR system

    The Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, has shown interest to understudy the UNILORIN’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) system.

    The institution’s Rector, Dr Edna Nneka Mogekwu, who made this known when she led a team of the polytechnic’s management to the university, explained that the polytechnic is a young institution that needs to learn from a model like UNILORIN.

    She said the polytechnic has been surviving on meagre resources, hence the need to increase its IGR.

    Mogekwu said that the Obi of Ogwashi-Ukwu in Delta State, Prof Chukwuma Okonjo who is also the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the university, has spoken so well of the UNILORIN and also facilitated the visit by the polytechnic management.

    Welcoming the polytechnic team, the UNILORIN VC, Prof Ambali, attributed the university’s success to his predecessors. He also promised to hand over to his successor a better university than what he met.

    The Vice-Chancellor submitted that having realised that the running of a university cannot be left solely to the government, the management of the University of Ilorin had strategised and put in place an effective revenue generation policy.