NUC appoints FUTO to supervise Hezekiah varsity

THE Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has appointed the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) to mentor the first private university in Imo State, Hezekiah University, Umudi, FUTO Vice Chancellor, Prof. Chigozie Asiabaka, has disclosed.

Briefing journalists yesterday on the achievements of the institution under him, Asiabaka said the NUC expects FUTO to provide academic and administrative advice to Hezekiah for five years, “as well as send periodic reports” to it.

Meanwhile, the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) has called for an end to interference in the running of universities in the country, especially by state governments.

Making the call during the association’s four-day conference on “The Role of ICT in University Administration and Curriculum Delivery,” chairman of the group and Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Joseph Ajienka, lamented that vice chancellors work under difficult conditions in spite of their sacrifices to the nation.

Asiabaka attributed the new responsibility to the feats the institution has recorded in “integrity, professionalism, transparency and fairness in the field of teaching, learning and research,” adding that soon, the NUC would visit the Architectural Department and others for assessment for accreditation.

He further disclosed that the institution has named its Engineering Department Workshop after late Senator Uche Chukwumerije in recognition of his efforts in attracting several infrastructures to the institution through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) when he was chairman of Senate Committee on Education.

More so, he disclosed, the Imo State Government has restored part of the hectares of land it took from the institution’s land, adding that it was contained in “Supplement to Imo State of Nigeria Gazette No. 6, Vol. 39 of December 4, 2014, Part B (I.S.L.N. No. 21 of 2014).”

Ajienka told the conference, which held in Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, with over 60 VCs from across the country participating, to chart the way forward for universities’ Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policies.

He disclosed that the VCs are faced with challenges of funding, poor condition of service and more importantly, influence by state governments. However, he expressed optimism that Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike, being a former minister of education, would use his experience to address the problems of RSUST and the nation at large.

Also speaking, RSUST VC, Prof. Barineme Fakae, noted that the institution’s transformation was achieved through a robust ICT programme, which has enabled it to digitalise its records, fees system and academic programmes, and placed it as the 12th best university in the country from its earlier 76th position.

Nevertheless, Wike tasked universities to utilise the ICT potential to check administrative hitches, stating that ICT remains vital if universities must survive in the present global world.