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Tag: UNIZIK

  • UNIZIK: 7,000 lucky among 50,000 applicants

    UNIZIK: 7,000 lucky among 50,000 applicants

    SEVEN THOUSAND freshers took the matriculation oath at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last week. It was all excitement as the students, in black academic gown, pledged to obey the school rules.

    •From left: Deputy VC (Academics), Prof Charles Esimone, Prof Ahaneku, his wife Dr Gladys and Registrar, Dr Hyacinth Isidienu at the event.
    •From left: Deputy VC (Academics), Prof Charles Esimone, Prof Ahaneku, his wife Dr Gladys and Registrar, Dr Hyacinth Isidienu at the event.

    The Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof Joseph Ahaneku, congratulated the freshers on their admission, noting that more than 50,000 applied to study at the institution. He reiterated his administration’s commitment to harnessing human and material resources in the pursuit of the actualisation of his dream to make the institution world-class.

    He said: “The vision of my administration is to so transform the university. By the end of my five year tenure, it would have become one of the best 500 universities in the world; one of the best 100 universities in Africa and the best university in Nigeria.”

    The VC assured that all the academic programmes of the university had been accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).  Students, he said, must attend 75 per cent of each lecture to be allowed to write exam.

    He also advised them against joining unlawful associations, saying any students found guilty of misconducts, such as examination malpractice, robbery, rape and cultism, would be expelled.

    The Dean of Students’ Affairs (DSA), Prof Ken Nwogu, charged the fresh students to obey the school rules. He urged them to take their studies seriously in order to graduate at record time.

    Speaking with CAMPUSLIFE, the Head of Department of Mass Communication, Prof Stella Okunna, said the freshers needed to work hard and avoid keeping bad friends. This, she said, would make them achieve their academic pursuits.

    Some of the freshers, who spoke with CAMPUSLIFE, expressed joy for scaling the admission hurdle.  Rita Ogbuagu admitted into Radiography Department promised to study hard for her to graduate in flying colours.

    Also, Amanda Okpalaeke, admitted into Department of Mechanical Engineering, expressed joy that she would no longer write matriculation examination again.

    A parent, Mrs Okpaleke, said she was grateful to God for her child’s admission, promising to support her by providing everything she may need.

    Students of Departments of Music and Theatre Arts entertained the freshers and their parents with music and drama.

     

  • Students win big at UNIZIK Project Fame

    Students win big at UNIZIK Project Fame

    It was a carnival of talents at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last weekend. Students showcased their talents at an event organised to pick the next reality music star and UNIZIK’s Intellectual Millionaire.

    The show, tagged: UNIZIK Project Fame and Millionaire’s Quiz, was put together by Very Reverend Father Bonachristus Umeogu International Scholarship Schemes and Foundation. It was aimed at developing and rewarding students with exceptional abilities.

    There was no dull moment at the university auditorium, venue of the event, which was filled to capacity. The contestants dished out electrifying performances that sent members of the audience into excitement.

    The contestants, including Jurassic Band from the Department of Music, were drawn from various departments.

    The presence of Dr Alvan Ikoku Nwamara, a seasoned music lecturer, and Mr Chikezie Uzuegbunam, a lecturer of the Department of Mass Communication, added glamour to the event.

    Ten contestants emerged after the preliminary screening and moved to the grand finale. The contestants took turn to display their mastery of different minds of music. The audience was held spellbound by their performance that lasted for hours.

    At the end of the show, Frank Nlebedim, a 300-Level Psychology, who bears Frankstrings as his stage name, emerged the winner, winning a scholarship. Nnekka Okafor and Alfred Umeaku became first and second runners-up. They were rewarded with cash prizes.

    The Millionaire’s Quiz was won by Chidera Igboneliaku, a 100-Level Corporative Economics student. She went home with N1 million cash prize.

  • UNIZIK lecturers in China on cultural exchange

    UNIZIK lecturers in China on cultural exchange

    To enhance academic linkage and collaboration with Xiamen University in China, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka in Anambra State has nominated 10 of its young lecturers for a two-week training in China.

    Welcoming the trainees, the programme coordinator, Mr Wu Qunbin, said he was elated that the collaboration with UNIZIK had finally taken off. He said he was enthusiastic the partnership would boost academics in both institutions.

    Qunbin said Xiamen University is a top research institution in China, adding that the goal of the school was to pursue excellence in all academic areas. He said the two-week programme comprised academic exchanges based on the trainees’ disciplines, visits to cultural sites in Xiamen and Beijing, where the final training would take place.

    He said: “The aim of the exchange programme is to learn new things and to broaden knowledge. The exchange will provide opportunities to assess learning as well as cultural experiences between Nigeria and China. I promise that the visit would remain unforgettable and memorable for the young scholars.”

    The lecturers drawn from a number of departments include Mr. Chikezie Uzuegbunam and Miss Ngozi Emmanuel from Department of Mass Communication, Miss Idara Hanson, History and International Relations Department, Mr Somtoo Arinze-Umobi and Mr Onyeka Ebekue of Theatre Arts Department. Others are Mrs Martha Egenti and Mr Akachukwu Orji Linguistics Department, Mr Ejike Okaphor and Reverend Father Maurice Izunwa of Faculty of Law and Mr Chukwunonso Okoye of Chemical Engineering Department.

  • 167 ‘impersonators’ held at UNIZIK test

    No fewer than 167 impersonators were apprehended by authorities of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, during the institution’s post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    The impersonators have been handed over to security agencies. They will be charged to court after investigation.

    A statement by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Dr Emmanuel Ojukwu, said 28,233 of the 30,477 candidates that registered for the test, turned up for the week-long exercise.

    Ojukwu said the figure did not include applicants, who applied for affiliated institutions, such as the Federal College of Education (Technical) in Umunze, Anambra State, Enugu State College of Education (Technical), Federal Polytechnic, Auchi (AUCHI POLY) and Pope John Paul II Major Seminary in Okpuno. He said dates had not been fixed for the screening in the affiliated institutions.

    He said: “Due to the stringent processes used by the school to conduct the screening, many fraudulent candidates did not turn up for the exercise to avoid being detected. The university’s newly-acquired Biometric Data Capturing Machines were fully deployed to ensure candidates’ fingerprints were matched with what the institution already has in its data base.”

    The results of the exercise have since been released.

    From investigations, Ojukwu said some parents made efforts to undermine the exercise by paying mercenaries to write the test on behalf of their children. He said some of the impersonators confessed to the crime.

    He said: “We have received criticisms from some parents, because of the mechanism put in place to checkmate fraud. This is wrong and it will lead to nowhere. Such parents must desist from engaging mercenaries to undermine our system.”

    Ojukwu said the university admission list would be based on merit, warning applicants against giving money to anyone for admission.

    He added: “It is on record that some persons, including staff of the university, who collected money to assist candidates in getting admission, could not succeed last year. As a result, a staff of the university abandoned his work and ran away until today. The other one whose case was reported to the management has been dismissed.”

    He said some people opened Facebook accounts in the name of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Joseph Ahaneku, to defraud the public. Ojukwu said the VC did not have social media account.

    He said the school had introduced a new admission policy, which would give candidates who scored below average in post-UTME an advantage to be considered for admission after aggregation of their scores with UTME.

  • Tension as 200 students slump at UNIZIK

    Tension as 200 students slump at UNIZIK

    •Only three slumped, says management

    Over 200 students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State, slumped while writing the post-UTME examination on Monday.

    However, nobody died.

    Some students, who spoke with The Nation yesterday, said the school authorities  did not make proper arrangements for the examination.

    One of them said: “The examination was not organised; computers were not enough and we were there from 8am till 9pm.

    “Honestly, more than 200 students slumped due to exhaustion and the lecturers did not care, as they were busy pushing us from one place to another.

    “Some who came from distant places without relations in Anambra slept in the open and the fear is that no one knows if any of the slumped students died,” she said.

    But the Director of Information and Public Relations, Emmanuel Ojukwu debunked the allegations.

    He said only three students slumped and they were resuscitated at the school’s clinic.

    Ojukwu said one of the victims was asthmatic and didn’t come with her medication. The second victim was in an accident earlier while the third was hungry.

    He added that the school had 500 computers, while the examinations ended by 5pm.

    “What we did was to allow those already screened to finish their exams while the others were told to come back on Friday.

    “On Monday, we had 11,000 students; 8,200 wrote the exam and others will write theirs later.

    “The place was organised and the school is equal to the task,” Ojukwu said.

     

  • UNIZIK’s day of culture

    UNIZIK’s day of culture

    The Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, was agog with festivities when the students marked their Cultural Day. FRANKLIN ONWUBIKO (400-Level Mass Communication) reports.

    It was a sight to behold. The Igwes (kings) and their lolos (Queens) led their subjects in processions. They moved in measured steps, and wherever they stopped, they beseeched the gods to bless their subjects. The subjects offered gifts in return as a mark of respect to the ‘custodians’ of their cultures and traditions.

    It was not a scene in an epic movie; it all happened at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last week. The school literally became a melting pot of cultures. There was celebration in every nook and cranny of the campus as  students marked their Cultural Day.

    For many, it was the first time they would be witnessing a large-scale cultural event. Hitherto, such event was held without much publicity. But, the cultural festival was marked in all departments of the institution.

    Students were clad in colourful traditional attires, each reflecting the culture of a typical Igbo society. Each department had its own uniform just as they had their kings and queens. They all marched round the campus, celebrating with exceptional displays, which attracted a large crowd of residents of the institution’s host community.

    All departments’ troupes took turns to entertain their colleagues with their traditional dance steps.

    The event was held to rejuvenate social life on the campus and to promote values of the nation’s cultures.

     

  • VC: our aim is to make UNIZIK great

    VC: our aim is to make UNIZIK great

    The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, Anambra State, Prof Joseph Ahaneku, has said his vision was to make the institution the best in the country. The dream, he said, is achievable if the staff and students share and support his vision.

    The VC spoke during a breakfast session with reporters in his office to mark his first anniversary. Ahaneku, a professor of Chemical Pathology, said his administration had recorded tremendous progress in the last one year.

    He said his administration’s effort to solve the problem of impersonation and examination malpractices was yielding results, noting that the upgrading of admission processes to a digital method had proven to be reliable.

    In the last post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) exams, he said over 440 candidates abandoned the test and ran away after seeing the thoroughness of the screening process. About 80 impersonators, he said, were arrested and are being prosecuted.

    He said: “Through biometric registration, we have the data of all our students. Since I assumed leadership, I can tell you that many lecturers have buckled up. We insisted on doing the right thing and any forms of extortion by lecturers have been stopped. Today, students graduate on recorded time. If anything delays students’ results, the head of such department is punished, just as we recently sanctioned a lecturer.”

    The VC said the introduction of research exhibition by his administration has made departments to step up researches and come up with outcome and inventions that could be presented on the world stage.

    The result, he said, include the breakthrough of the institution’s engineering students, who produced a fast racing car, which was displayed recently at science exhibition in Abuja.

    “That car was produced with 60 per cent local materials. As I speak to you, other products made with 80 per cent local materials are in the pipeline. That is the way we want to go. We want our students to be self-reliant and we believe that is where the future of Nigeria lies,” he said.

    He said improvement in the university rating was the reason the school is second most-preferred university in the country.

    He said he was satisfied with his achievements in the last one year, promising to pursue his programmes aggressively to make his administration attainment its goals.

  • UNIZIK suspends five lecturers

    The management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, Anambra State, has suspended five lecturers for examination misconduct.

    UNIZIK’s Director of Publications Mr. Emma Ojukwu confirmed the suspension in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka yesterday.

    He said the lecturers were suspended on March 2 for three months with half salaries, pending the outcome of the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee Report.

    The drector said the lecturers were from the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry and the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering.

    Ojukwu said they were found to have assisted students and awarded frivolous marks to undeserving students in the first semester exams in the 2013/2014 academic session.

    Other offences were failure to submit examination attendance list, collection of money from students for upgrading of results, sharp practices and irregularities in result sheets.

    He said administrative verification would soon be conducted in other departments to fish out such culprits.

    Ojukwu said the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ahaneku, had warned some heads of department not to collect money from students for registration.

    The director said a review process had been instituted for administrative action on the matter.

     

  • UNIZIK suspends 5 lecturers for misconduct

    UNIZIK suspends 5 lecturers for misconduct

    The management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka has suspended five lecturers for examination misconduct.

    The institution’s Director of Publications, Mr Emma Ojukwu, confirmed the suspension in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Tuesday.

    He said that the lecturers were suspended on March 2 for three months with half salaries pending the outcome of the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee Report.

    He said lecturers were from the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry and the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering.

    Ojukwu said that they were found culpable in the first semester of 2013/2014 academic session for assisting students in answering questions and frivolous award of marks to undeserving students.

    The other offences were failing to submit examination attendance list, collection of money from students for upgrading of results, sharp practices and irregularities in result sheets.

    He said that the administrative verifications would soon be conducted in other departments to fish out such culprits.

    He said that the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Joseph Ahaneku, had warned some heads of departments not to collect money from students for registrations.

    The director said that a review process had been instituted for administrative action on the matter.

  • Running with a vision

    Running with a vision

    A Law graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, David Agu, has organised an entrepreneurship training and contest for students. EMEKA CHUKWUEMEKA reports.

    Entrepreneurship is becoming popular among the youth, but many of them may not have the enthusiasm and relentless spirit for business. These traits, David Agu, the Publisher of Aluta magazine believes, are key to making a successful entrepreneur.

    Agu, who has just graduated from the Faulty of Law of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, spoke at the grand finale of an entrepreneurship seminar, which he organised to encourage students with vocational skills to improve their business.

    The theme of the workshop held at the university’s auditorium was: Entrepreneurship: A tool for repositioning the Nigerian economy.

    Agu said he was worried by the economy, which cannot absorb graduates willing to use their skills productively. He said the growing unemployment showed that there were no ready-made jobs for the youth, stressing the need for them to acquire  skills to make them self-reliant after school.

    He said: “Our youths should learn to be job creators instead of job seekers, because creating wealth out of their skills is the only way to salvage the country from the entrenched unemployment. This seminar was initiated as my own way of developing entrepreneurial skills of students, who are on the verge of joining the labour market upon graduation.”

    Agu recalled his experience in establishing the magazine. He said despite investing much more than what he was realising in the venture, he kept on publishing because of his passion for journalism. He added that the magazine had grown and fetching him wealth.

    The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Joseph Ahaneku, represented by Dr Emma Ezenyilimba, said entrepreneurship was the fastest way to escape poverty. He hailed the graduate for what he described as a “wonderful initiative”. The VC was optimistic that ideas that would be generated during the seminar would be useful to participants.

    Prof Joy Eyisi of the English Department said Agu deserved commendation for the gesture and his efforts in sensitising students to embrace entrepreneurship for them to be job creators after school.

    Eyisi said: “Our youths have taken us over and above the height of our dream. It is fantastic when you see good number of things our youths can do by themselves, and then you know that Nigeria is aspiring for the zenith. I want to tell you to keep working hard and you should go for excellence.”

    The seminar featured an entrepreneurship contest during which participants used their skills to produce various objects, including bread, beads, bags made from woven palm fronds, and art works. A panel of judges assessed contestants’ work based on originality of the products and creativity.

    Chinonso Okolie, an English Education student, who designed Igbo scrabble, a word-game, won the contest. Chinonso said he was motivated by the growing concern for the revival of Igbo language, noting that the scrabble would make Igbo students develop interest their language.

    He said: “That prediction about Igbo language would go into extinction by 2025 unsettles me. It disturbs me a lot, because Igbo is a major tribe in the country. Moved by that prediction, I conducted a research of how best to restore the lost glory of the language. And that was how I came about the Igbo scrabble, a game that involves word formation in the language.”

    When asked how the scrabble could be played, Chinonso said: “The scrab table contains all Igbo lexicon. Igbo alphabet is 36 letters while we have 26 in English. The scrabble contains 130 letter tiles which includes three blank tiles while that of English is 100 letter tiles with the inclusion of two blank tiles.

    “Players will draw eight tiles from the bag, unlike in English scrabble where players can draw seven letters. There can be four or two players and by so doing, they understand the language better just as we have in English scrabble.”

    The winners of the contest were presented with start-up funds totaling N1 million.

    Participants also witnessed the launch of Aluta Entrepreneurs Market, a building of shops and offices for young entrepreneurs who cannot afford expensive office.

    Mr. Eloka Egbunike, a politician, pledged to sponsor five of the contestants to entrepreneurship exhibition in South Africa later in the year.

    Awards were given to people who excelled in entrepreneurship in different fields. The awardees included a former Vice-Chancellor of the school, Prof Pita Ejiofor and chairman of Orient Communications Limited, Mr Godwin Ezeemo.