A Professor of Political Science and Public Communication, Ayandiji Daniel Aina, has been appointed the third Vice-Chancellor of Caleb University, Lagos.
Before his career as an academic, Aina was for 10 years at the (old) Daily Times of Nigeria Plc where he rose to the post of Assistant Director (1989-1999) according to a statement by the Registrar of the University, Mrs. Folake Okor.
Prior to his appointment Aina was the Provost, College of Management and Social Sciences, Babcock University.
Aina takes over from Prof Ayodeji Olukoju, a professor of History from the University of Lagos.
Aina, who is not new to university administration, has served as the President/Vice-Chancellor of Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State (2011-2013).
He was the pioneer Head of Department of Political Science (1999-2003), Dean, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences (2003-2006) and Chief of Staff to the Vice-Chancellor (2006-2008) at Babcock University.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, has denied being booed by members of the House of Representatives Education Committee.
Some national newspapers (The Nation not included) reported that the vice chancellor was being probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The newspapers added that members of the committee walked him out while defending the UNILORIN 2016 budget proposal.
Prof Ambali made the denial at the weekend while addressing reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Said he: “I was not walked out of the National Assembly by the House of Representatives Committee on Education.”
One major concern of Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, the Vice-Chancellor, of the Federal University in Otuoke, the community of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, is the status of the university’s programmes.
Aluko is the pioneer vice-chancellor of the institution, which started operation in 2011. The American-trained professor took over the leadership of the newly-established ivory tower on February 16, 2011.
In fact, he took over the university when there was nothing on ground. But his minder’s touch, experience and exposure have built the institution to an enviable height especially when juxtaposed with other universities established the same time.
Students’ population has increased; staff statistics is excellent; academic infrastructure has improved and there has been a friendly relationship between the university and its host community despite some challenges. With the standard of learning and character established by Aluko, the university will in no distant time become one of the top ranking ivory towers in the country.
But Aluko is still worried. He is disturbed by the status of programmes offered in the university. Because the institution is new, all its courses as at last year were yet to be accredited. An accreditation panel visited the university late last year.
Aluko said the school went through accreditation for 12 of its programmes. “And my hope, my aim and ambition is either to have full accreditation or to have at least 80 to 90%of our programmes accredited preferably 100%.
“But sometimes when you don’t have full accreditation it’s equally an opportunity to improve on those things they have not given you to gain accreditation for,” he said.
In social sciences, the university runs six programmes such as Accounting and Finance; English and Communication Studies, Economics and Development Studies, Political Science, History, Sociology and Anthropology. Aluko has also developed six programmes in sciences such as Chemistry, Micro-biology, Computer Science, Physics Mathematics and Statistics.
All of the courses are undergoing accreditation at the same time. The professor said: “This is really like a university accreditation. In some other universities, sometimes it will be certain programmes, but in a new university like this, where none of them have been accredited, it is serious.”
Indeed, it is a big challenge for Aluko because this is the first time the programmes are undergoing accreditation.
Undoubtedly, Aluko worked very hard to achieve the standard of student ratio, staff mix, facilities, classrooms and laboratories, library, safety and security and campus cleanliness, among other requirements needed for accreditation.
On the relationship between the university and its host community, Aluko described it as testing. He acknowledged that the community made tremendous sacrifice including raising money to erect eight start-up buildings.
He, however, said the community has unlimited expectations from the university, which he said sometimes were beyond the institution.
“We are a federal university and not a community university, not Bayelsa university, not a Niger Delta university. We are a federal university and also part of international community.”
On the issues of finance, Aluko said: “Finance has been the major challenge here. We were lucky that we had N1.5billion take-off fund that other universities did not have and that was what we used to provide facelift in this place.
“But overhead has been a challenge because we have never gotten more than N6million which is inadequate. We don’t have electricity here since August 2014.
“So we generally run on generator. We have 13 diesel generators for a total of 1.95 megawatts and 8 transformers for a total of 2.55megawatts. We spend N2million monthly on generator.”
Redeemer’s University (RUN) Vice Chancellor, Prof Debo Adeyewa, has described as unfair the exclusion of private universities from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
TETFUND is the agency that disburses the Education Tax Fund collected from registered companies to public tertiary institutions. It generates its fund from tax collected from registered companies in the country.
Adeyewa spoke at a briefing held at the institution’s Ede campus during which he announced the school’s breakthrough in the development of a rapid diagnostic test kit for Lassa fever.
He said since there is no company excluded from paying tax so also no private university be excluded from being a beneficiary of their tax payment.
He said: “Since there is nothing like a private person who is excluded from paying tax, so why should tax paid by all of us be ploughed into public tertiary institutions alone while leaving their private contemporaries to develop at their own pace without any help from its government?”
He added that TETFUND can help the country thrive if it ploughed money into varsities that have made research a priority.
“A lot of private schools will take over. That is what World Bank has been doing. Research will transform the economy,’’ Adeyewa said.
The Coordinator of the research, Christian Happi, a Professor of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the university, said private universities will thrive and make good headway even without TETFUND intervention.
He said research in Nigeria is not encouraged because companies and agencies who can fund it are not making it a priority even though there are several agencies in the country that can support it.
“You could bring the latest research facilities to Nigeria and yet research will not thrive because research has not been made a priority in most public varsities. So, funding is not really the problem but how we prioritise,” he said.
Redeemer’s University, which prides itself as a research-focused institution, also made a breakthrough during the Ebola epidemic.
One major concern of Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, the Vice-Chancellor, of the Federal University located in Otuoke, the community of former President Goodluck Jonathan, in Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, is the status of the university’s programmes.
Aluko is the pioneer vice-chancellor of the institution which started operation in 2011. The American-trained professor took over the leadership of the newly-established ivory tower on February 16, 2011.
In fact, he took over the university when there was nothing on ground. But his minder’s touch, experience and exposure have built the institution to an enviable height especially when juxtaposed with other universities established the same time.
Students’ population has increased; staff statistics is excellent; academic infrastructure has improved and there has been a friendly relationship between the university and its host community despite some challenges. With the standard of learning and character established by Aluko, the university will in no distant time become one of the top ranking ivory towers in the country.
But Aluko is still worried. He is disturbed by the status of programmes offered in the university. Because the institution is new, all its courses as at last year were yet to be accredited. An accreditation panel visited the university late last year.
Aluko said the school went through accreditation for 12 of its programmes. “And my hope, my aim and ambition is either to have full accreditation or to have at least 80 to 90%of our programs accredited preferably 100%.
“But sometimes when you don’t have full accreditation is equally an opportunity to improve on those things they have not given you to gain accreditation for”, he said.
In social sciences, the university runs six programmes such as Accounting and Finance; English and Communication Studies, Economics and Development Studies, Political Science, History, Sociology and Anthropology. Aluko has also developed six programmes in sciences such as Chemistry, Micro-biology, Computer Science, Physics Mathematics and Statistics.
All of the courses are undergoing accreditation at the same time. The professor said: “This is really like a university accreditation. In some other universities, sometimes it will be certain programmes, but in a new university like this, where none of them have been accredited, it is serious.”
Indeed, it is a big challenge for Aluko because this is the first time the programmes are undergoing accreditation.
Undoubtedly, Aluko worked very hard to achieve the standard of student ratio, staff mix, facilities, classrooms and laboratories, library, safety and security and campus cleanliness, among other requirements needed for accreditation.
On the relationship between the university and its host community, Aluko described it as testing. He acknowledged that the community made tremendous sacrifice including raising money to erect eight start-up buildings.
He, however, said the community has unlimited expectations from the university, which he said sometimes were beyond the institution.
“We are a federal university and not a community university, not Bayelsa university, not a Niger Delta university. We are a federal university and also part of international community.”
On the issues of finance, Aluko said: “Finance has been the major challenge here. We were lucky that we had N1.5billion take-off fund that other universities did not have and that was what we used to provide facelift in this place.
“But overhead has been a challenge because we have never gotten more than N6million which is inadequate. We don’t have electricity here since August 2014.
“So we generally run on generator. We have 13 diesel generators for a total of 1.95 megawatts and 8 transformers for a total of 2.55megawatts. We spend N2million monthly on generator.”
An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure Wednesday sentenced two persons, Daniel Ita Effiog and Olayemi Bamitale, to death by hanging for killing a former Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof. Albert Ilemobade.
Effiog, 24 and Bamitale 36, respectively served as security guard and former driver to the university don.
They were accused of killing Ilemobade on June 21, 2015, and later dumped his remains in an isolated store in his compound at Ijapo, Akure, before carting away his Toyota Rav 4 Jeep and other valuable items from the compound.
The deceased decomposed’s body was later found by family members about one week after the incident.
The duo was arrested by policemen in Ogun State while trying to sell the stolen items on June 27.
They were later transferred to the Ondo State Police Command for further investigation and prosecution.
The convicts were charged with conspiracy, robbery and murder by strangling the 78-year-old deceased to death at his residence in Ijapo Estate, Akure.
The offence, according to prosecution, was contrary to and punishable under Section 324 of the Criminal Code Cap.37 Vol. 1 Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria 2006.
The prosecution team, led by the state Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mrs Adejoke Adeyemi-Tuki , called four witnesses and tendered several exhibits during the prosecution.
The charges read: “That you Daniel Ita Effiog and Olayemi Bamitale on the 21st June 2015 at about 9pm at No. 1 Ikere Street Ijapo Estate commit felony to wit: murder and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 324 of the Criminal Code Cap.37 Vol.1 Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria 2006.
“That you Daniel Ita Effiog and Olayemi Bamitale on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned magisterial district did kill one Professor Albert Adeoye Ilemobade by jointly strangled him to death and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 316 and punishable under section 319 of Criminal Code Cap.37 Vol.1 Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria 2006.
“That you Daniel Ita Effiog and Olayemi Bamitale on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned magisterial district did conspire together to commit felony to wit: robbery and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 403A of the Criminal Code Cap.37 Vol.1 Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria 2006.
“That you Daniel Ita Effiog and Olayemi Bamitale on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned magisterial district did rob one late Professor Albert Adeoye Ilemobade Rav 4 Jeep 2008 model with registration number Lagos GGE-589-CF valued yet unknown and the sum of seven thousand naira property of late Professor Albert Adeoye Ilemobade and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 401 of the Criminal Code Cap.37 Vol.1 Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria 2006”.
However, in one of their previous arrangements in court, they denied killing him by pleading not guilty to the three count-charges preferred against them.
But, in his ruling, Justice William Olamide held that the prosecution was able to establish and proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt and to the satisfaction of the court.
He said, “The accused persons were callous, wicked and inconsiderate when they decided to slew out life of an elderly person over his property. Against this backdrop, the accused persons do not deserve the sympathy or mercy of this court.
“Law must take its cause and this will serve as a deterrent to other. The accused persons are hereby sentenced to death by hanging.
“May God have mercy on your souls”.
Counsel to the accused, Bar. Kazeem Hassan said the convicts have the right to appeal the lower court ruling.
Professor Samuel Oye Bandele assumed duties as the seventh Vice Chancellor of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti last month. He has unfolded a nine-point agenda to improve the 33-year-old university, reports ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA.
You are coming into office with a vision and mission to leave EKSU better than you met it. What is your agenda?
My vision is for this university to be an Information Technology-driven institution where all our operations will be driven by IT to check any infraction that might be in the system and place it more on the global academic map. My vision is divided into nine different items. Number one is infrastructure. The former VC worked on that very well. We have the ones that are not completed and we are going to work on them to improve the aesthetic of this campus and provide more facilities for learning and office accommodation.
The second is intellectualism. We are going to have an academic summit to examine teaching, learning, administration, academic culture; discipline. I hope to run a focused administration that will help students to be creative. We are going to support the Directorate of Entrepreneurship to make our students economically independent.
The third is industry. We want to make our environment conducive for our students and workers to thrive. We hope to make our staff more dutiful; our students will be engaged through our work-and-study programme.
I also intend to improve on our sporting activities. The university is old and members of staff are getting old; and many don’t check their blood pressure. Most deaths are caused by our habits, we will have recreational facilities.
In terms of information, we are going to make our university a hub because we don’t want this place to be isolated.
The next is IGR (Internally Generated Revenue), which we are going to pursue with passion. No institution, whether state-owned or federal-owned, can continue to rely on the government for funding. We must look inwards to generate funds to meet our needs. Risk-to-Wealth Initiative is my agenda to translate this into reality. We are going to have an IGR Summit we will come together and brainstorm on how we can turn our agenda, skills and knowledge to wealth.
We are going to set a template. I invited the ICT Department of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) because they have had a breakthrough in ICT. The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife came first on the WEBOMETRIC ranking and FUNAAB came second. If we can partner with them, I know that we can succeed and this is in line with my passion to move the university forward. Already, we are pursuing this nine-point vision with focused attention it deserves.
So many students live off-campus. Do you have plans to build more hostels to make the university fully residential?
It is our desire to make more students and staff to reside on the campus because this is an academic environment. There is a mighty hostel being built there through TETFUND and in the next few months, we are going to build 10,000-capacity student hotels through Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT). To make the residency effective, principal officers should be resident on campus. We are planning to have Principal Officers’ Village because when our students know that we are around, they will be rest assured that their needs will be met. There will be affordable houses for junior staff because we have some of them who travel to and from Akure and Ibadan. Having our students scattered in adjoining communities is not good enough because what many of them do, is better imagined than experienced. I am the pastor of the students of my church on the campus and I see a lot of things happening. Many of these students live together as if they are husbands and wives, commonly called cohabitation. Parents should cooperate with us and ensure that we come together to make this dream a reality.
What is your short-term plan to generate funds for the university? It is believed that the reduction of the school fees denied the management of about N500 million.
It may not be correct to say that the government’s decision to slash fees made the university to lose N500 million. Even before the government slashed the fees, how many of the students were paying? What is the essence of increasing fees that will not be paid? What the management is now trying to do is to ensure that these fees are paid and when they should be paid.
The university should look into IGR. The school fees will be there but what is wrong in having our own table water, bakery, and bookshop? We have the press, block industry and as the VC, we will meet with our contractors and if they want to partner with us, they should partner with us.
The Vice Chancellor (VC), University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Abel Olayinka, has said he would sustain the institution’s distinction.
Speaking at the thanksgiving service at the Chapel of the Resurrection, the VC said though there were challenges, including funding, “ my administration will ensure that we maintain and preserve the legacies of integrity, academic excellence and worthy character bequeathed to us by the founding fathers”.
According to Olayinka, “UI has always been Nigeria’s pride with the annual turnout of doctoral graduates, as well as qualified first degree products, this university , which is regarded as a national patrimony, keeps challenging me daily with its robust and enviable record which my administration must work hard to maintain .”
He added: “I am hereby promising all of you that at the end of my tenure in 2020, you will all be proud of me as I would have sufficiently justified the confidence reposed in me to lead this 21st Century university to greater heights.
“We shall work very hard, not only to maintain the good reputation of this university, but to also add value which all Nigerians will be proud of.”
Speaking to his detractors, the VC said: “ If truly we love UI, we must not engage in any act capable of tarnishing its good name because so many other universities look up to UI for leadership and academic mentoring.”
The Federal Government has stepped into the quarrel between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Prof Hilary Edeoga, Vice-Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture at Umudike (MOUAU) n Abia State. The parties are sticking to their guns, despitethe probe, report UGOCHUKWU UGORJI-EKE (Umuahia) and CLARICE AZUATALAM (Port Harcourt).
•Edeoga
The Federal Government has launched a probe into the allegations of fraud, high-handedness and mismanagement levelled against Prof Hilary Edeoga, Vice-Chancellor (VC), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) in Abia State by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
President Muhammadu Buhari, speaking through the Minister of State for Education, Prof Anthony Onwuka during the university’s seventh convocation last Saturday, said he was aware of the rift between Edeoga and the union, adding that all the issues.
“Government is aware of the misunderstanding between the university management and ASUU, which is the reason the ministerial committee has been set up to investigate the matter and submit its report within 10 days,” he said.
There is no love lost between Edeoga and the MOUAU branch of ASUU, chaired by Dr Uzochukwu Onyebinama. In June, the university suspended Onyebinama for alleged fraud and examination malpractices following investigation by a staff disciplinary committee.
Back then, Edeoga said the panel found Onyebinama “guilty of insubordination, total disregard for constituted authority, inefficiency, negligence and dishonesty in the discharge of his official functions.” The panel and recommended his dismissal, but the university management converted it to suspension.
Onyebinama has taken the university the court over the matter.
ASUU also kicked against the suspension and threatened to down tools if he was not re-instated. It was learnt that he has not been re-instated.
In the past few weeks, ASUU has held press conferences across the country, calling on the government to check Edeoga’s alleged excesses, which its leaders claimed was plunging the institution into crisis.
At the ASUU Sokoto Zone press conference, the Zonal Coordinator, Dr Lawali Alkali Argungu, accused Edeoga of sundry misdeeds.
He said: “For the 2014/2015 admission exercise, the VC instructed that all new students must buy a bed space at the rate of N60,800 which he deliberately refused to refund those who could not get the accommodation.
“The Vice-Chancellor, in flagrant violation of the university laws compelled prospective applicants seeking job to pay a non refundable application fee of N3,800, a practice alien to the University system.”
The union also accused Edeoga of approving some programmes, such as Human Resources Management, allegedly not accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC). He was also said to have approved the promotion of 30 lecturers to professorial cadre who were not adequately qualified.
But, a group of academics who claimed to have pulled out of MOUAU ASUU, has condemned the union’s national leadership for allegedly denigrating the VC.
In a statement signed by its leader, Dr Joseph Adama, and distributed in Port Harcout, claimed that the allegation that the university was running unapproved programmes was untrue.
It flayed the ASUU leadership for failing to authenticate its claims before falsely accusing Edeoga.
The statement reads: “What ASUU national body should have done was to have investigated the facts of the matter before going to the press.
“There is a gang up initiated by ASUU, using the zones to fight MOUAU, the vice chancellor, the governing council, the senate, distinguished professors, academic and non-academic staff and the students in general.”
Adama noted that the MOUAU branch of ASUU was “very vibrant…until a one-time branch chairman was indicted by the university’s Investigation Committee and Disciplinary Committee at different times.”
The group endorsed the indictment and urged ASUU to stand by the truth.
Edeoga is relieved that the Federal Government has stepped in to resolve the crisis.
The panel, he said, would ensure that the truth is known and also afford him opportunity of defending himself.
Edeoga refused to respond to the allegations against him, claiming that he had been warned by the governing council to stop speaking about the ASUU matter.
“The council has started looking into the matter and will come out with its findings very soon. It is like a matter being placed before a court, so I am not going to speak until the case is dispensed of,” he said.
The Pro-Chancellor and chairman of council, Prof Anya Oko Anya, who ASUU accused of supporting Edeoga said the case was being investigated.
“The council has received their petition and we are looking into the matter and when we are through we will make our findings public,” he said.
On the accommodation fee controversy, the Student Union Government (SUG) president, Comrade Benedict Obiajulu, said the problem arose because of a break in communication between the bank and the hostel’s allocation committee
“When the students involved approached me, I went to the school management and found out that it was not a deliberate action,” he said.
Obiajulu said the cost of bed space in the new hostels, which have constant light and water, is N60,000. The old hostels, he added, are cheaper.
He said the students who paid the N60,800 but were allocated spaces in the old hostels, would have the excess carried over to the next session.
He said off-campus, the most expensive hostel, Siege hostel, goes for N120,000, adding that it does not provide regular power supply and water.
A student, who does not want to be named, said he got a refund when he was not allocated space in the new hostel.
“When I could not get a bed space at the hostel, my money was returned to me complete. However I cannot speak for others; though most of them told me they got their money back,” he said.
A member of the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), Ikechukwu Okwor, said as a pioneer staff of the institution, allegation of over-staffing of the school with non-indigenes always comes up whenever a new VC comes on board.
He explained that investigation has shown that Abia State has the highest number of workers employed as the catchment area of the university.
Edeoga, he said, is innocent.
“The VC is being attacked by the cabal who has for years been holding the school to ransom, and after the end of their tenure they want to remain on seat which Prof Edeoga has refused to do,” he said.
However, some parents do not agree with Okwor.
The parents, in a statement signed by their Chairman, Obinna Nwosu, and Secretary, Tony Okoro, claimed that their petition to the governing council over the excesses and recklessness of the management has been ignored.
“When we openly demonstrated against the academic and financial fraud in the university, the management arrested some of us and tortured us in their secret chambers until the police rescued us, some of the scandalous activities we complained against have been thriving since then,” they alleged.
Former Vice Chancellor (VC) of Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, Prof Kayode Makinde has reacted to public’s claims that Babcock University’s education is too expensive.
Speaking with journalists at a luncheon in the university, he said the nation’s economic state and BU’s determination not to compromise standards were factors affecting the hike in fees.
Defending the institution, Makinde said before the latest increment in August, school fees were last reviewed in 2011.
He also said the fees would have been much higher but for the subsidy provided by the university’s proprietor, Seventh Day Adventist Church.
However, the subsidy does not cover medicine.
Makinde said studying medicine at BU was highly priced because: “BU’s medicine is a global track medicine. Its aim is to curb Nigerians going out to seek medical treatment in India and other countries. So we are sending students to learn what they do in those countries. When are we going to get tired, as a nation of outsourcing power, health and other factors?
“A sitting President died receiving treatment abroad and was brought back in an ambulance; a sitting first lady died in a hospital abroad; A minister is currently receiving cancer treatment abroad. Would you rather invest in your children’s education and get them out industry-ready and in record time, or not? School fees is not what is expensive; life in Nigeria is.”
Makinde said he would like to be remembered for sowing into the future of Nigeria, as well as for his credibility, integrity and productivity.
Also speaking at the event, his successor, Prof Ademola Tayo, unveiled his agenda for his tenure to include: reinvigorating the academic scope of culture; management of external publics; consolidate spirituality; service delivery; continued first class training in medicine, among others.
Tayo solicited the support of the university’s workers and parents to sustain higher standard of education and have a successful tenure.
Meanwhile, the Council of Legal Education has adjudged BU as the overall best School of Law out of 42 Faculties of Law in Nigeria in the 2015 academic year, based on the cumulative performance of its students in the Bar Final Examinations of the Nigerian Law School.
A statement by Joshua Suleiman, the Public Relations director, noted that BU recorded the best results (95.8 percent), with the least number of failures, while the institution’s Bukoye Olayinka bagged one of the eight recorded first class in the bar exam across the country.
