By Polycarp Auta,
Stakeholders in education observe that University of Abuja ought to be a pride of the nation, central and strategic to the league of universities.
Founded in January 1988 as a dual-mode university — to run conventional and distance learning programmes — Uniabuja is located at Airport Road, Abuja, with huge population of more than 40,000 undergraduate students.
Observers note that with the credentials of the university, the public sees it as the University for National Unity with abundant potential because of its favoured location.
Critics also note that although there were efforts by the past administration of the institution at achieving the purpose of its creation, the recent development on the campus suggests that the current administration has built well on the past achievements to make the institution a world-class, capable of competing with any university across the globe.
They cite the instance of the parameter fencing of the university conceived by the previous administration but actualised by the current Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, to provide adequate security for the students and to make the campus visible and beautiful.
Stakeholders observe that Na’Allah is instrumental, to a great extent, in the recent development on the campus by improving on the past administrations’ efforts to give the institution a befitting position among the Nigerian universities.
Impressed by the development on the campus, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun, appraised Na’Allah’s development strides.
The envoy gave the commendation in his remarks in Abuja recently during the presentation of scholarship awards to 49 students of the institution in recognition of their academic performance.
“You are the future of Nigeria, we have lessons, we have policies, we have programmes and we have success stories to showcase.
“I am working to bring Nigerian people to China next year to study the secret of the Chinese people, the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China, which has done the unprecedented in eradicating extreme poverty,’’ he promised.
Also, a final year student of Linguistics, Miss Ibukunoluwa Olaitan, observes that the administration of Na’Allah is charaterised with innovations, noting that the situation on campus has changed from where it was used to when she began her course few years back.
Assessing the level of developments on the campus, Na’Allah said: “I would say that we have done tremendously well, especially looking at where I met the university in July 2019 when I was appointed.
“We have a university that has a lot of potential in the capital city, but unable to utilise such opportunity for good many years of existence. So when I came in, I understood the need to get things done quickly, because as a person, coming in with my experience, my exposure, I could not just accept what I met.
“So I set out to work, to have a university that is respected locally and internationally, a university in which student is able to come in and graduate and earn what he works for, a university in which all staff members are proud to work.
“Then I assembled a good and hardworking team, whom I knew believed in our vision of changing the face of the university and turning it into a world class university.
“We introduced several programmes, including students employment scheme, student mentoring programme, undergraduate research grants, counselling and career services; as well as developing infrastructure, upgrading the hostels, improving the campus environment, introducing sports facilities, ensuring equipment reagents are available for learning, providing computer laboratories across the campus, and the list is long.
“We are doing great things that many can attest to, all geared towards making this university a model for every other university, especially in Africa’’.
But a Law graduate of the university in 2018, Mr Ugwumba Fortune, observes that with a population of over 40,000 students, the university has undergone many phase of problems ranging from academic and non-academic staff strike even up to infrastructural degradation in the past.
He, however, commended the quality of education in the institution, saying “a 2:1 student of Uniabuja is a first class student of any other university in Nigeria, while a 2:2 student is a 2:1 student of other universities’’.
Similarly, Mr Adebayo Juwon, a graduate of Sociology & International Relations of the university, notes: “Prior before now, the institution ranked poorly as it sits at a fluctuating position of between 55th and 45th position some years ago in many national ranking publications.
“But that has been a story of the past as the inception of a new administration has set the cause right for the vice chancellor to begin a quest of ground-breaking achievements that will span through sessions’’.
Sharing similar sentiments to corroborate the observers’ views, Na’Allah said: “This university gives a lot of priority to research at different levels.
“For instance, through our Centre for Undergraduate Research, we encourage undergraduate students to embark upon research under the mentorship of some academic staff and we actually fund that.
“When they turn in their proposal and it is good, some get about N300, 000, N500, 000, 800,000 and so on and so forth, depending on the nature of the research. We spend millions on these researches.
“We also have the centre for sponsored projects doing great in terms of deepening and creating opportunities for research in the university. Let me tell you that we started the first year by celebrating research activity, when our lecturers were bringing in grants.
“When we first did the celebration, our academic staff had brought in N350 million and we thought that was big. When we celebrated in December 2021, we realised more than N1 billion, some of these grants came from Europe.
“In this wise, we have collaborated with various organisations, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and private organisations, among others, that can benefit from such research and run with it.
On students’ admission to the university, Na’Allah insists that “admission at the University of Abuja goes through a process that is transparent and has high level of integrity.
“University of Abuja may have had some difficult history, it is not the reality today, our admission follows very thorough process because the university has values, and our values matter to us.
“Besides, since I came here, we do our best to ensure that nobody who really merits admission is denied such admission. Since I came in as vice- chancellor, we have never left any state outside in admission process, and our record is there and we will continue to respect that pattern because ours is a university for national unity’’.
On the uncompleted mega projects of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the campus since 2014, Na’Allah explains that the projects are Postgraduate School, Postgraduate Hostel, ICT Centre, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering and Medical Hostel, Gwagwalada.
“When I came in 2019, we discovered the projects had stalled since 2018, and we made serious appeal to the presidency, we visited the CBN and through these efforts, the contractor returned to the site, and they are making progress now.
“My appeal to them is that they should not go back, but finish up the work in good time, because if they finish these projects, the crisis of space that we have in the university will be greatly reduced, and this will enhance our opportunity to become the model university that we want to be.
“We want the bank to come in full force, stay focused and finish them up so that we have a good story to tell. You see, these are big projects, and you can just imagine what these projects can do to the university in terms of capacity,’’ he said.
“We take the case of sexual harassment very seriously because when you abuse students sexually, what you have done is you have destroyed their life, and you should know,’’ Na’Allah insists.
He also explains that the institution frowns against sexual harassment to create integrity for the university further,
“We take the case of sexual harassment very seriously because when you abuse students sexually, what you have done is you have destroyed their life, and you should know.
“A student who is here to study, now you force yourself on her, she just will never forgive herself in her life.
“I say to our university staff that no, we will never take that; immediately I came in as vice-chancellor, we set an example by expelling academic staff. We’ve expelled professors.
And we are saying to every professor, every academic staff that I will never tolerate reports of sexual harassment.
“We have regular processes, please, as I speak now, I’m sure there are some disciplinary cases that are ongoing and we are waiting for their reports.
“So, the university is taking these very seriously, and we’re not just doing it, simply because we want to, but to let the world know that we need to demonstrate that it is not business as usual here and that our environment is safe and cultured enough for anyone who want to study here.
“I look forward to providing and strengthening academic scholarship, world-class teaching and learning qualities, great and comforting staff and students’ welfare system, greater infrastructural development, virile moral standing as a university, higher and acceptable level of discipline that eliminates sexual harassment and uphold students and staff respect and honour,’’ he promised the public.
