Felix Ikem, Nsukka
The Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba, has said that he is happy that he is leaving the university better than he met it five years ago.
Ozumba whose five year-tenure will end on June 14 as the 14th vice-chancellor of the university said this on Monday in Nsukka during a media briefing to flag-off his end of tenure activities at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium.
“Prior to 2014 the university was listed as dysfunctional, but today and for the third consecutive year since 2016, UNN is ranked by Webometric as the No 1 university in Nigeria.
“Our enviable position as the best in research publications is still very evident and among the top 1,500 universities in the world.
“The backlog of programmes and courses requiring accreditation were cleared under my tenure; most faculties and departments had no accreditation but, today, the story is different as the over 100 academic programmes running in this university are fully accredited,” he said.
The vice chancellor said under his stewardship new faculties and new institutions were established.
“Under my stewardship new faculties were created; the Faculty
of Vocational and Technical Education and the Faculty of Basic Medical Science were created.
“New institutions established are Resources and Environmental Policy Research Centre, African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Power and Energy Development.
“Distance and e-learning programme was established and duly accredited by National Universities Commission,” he said.
On staff welfare, Ozumba said that the staff enjoy regular and prompt payment of their salaries, adding that the backlog of promotions for stagnated staff were cleared within the past five years.
He listed other achievements of his administration to include expanded- external contacts for the university, improved standards in ethics utilisation orientation, infrastructural development, enhancement in research capabilities and re-equipping of the laboratories.
Others included enhanced knowledge and usage of ICT, the establishment of Science Park, regular and generation of electricity from wastes and the manufacturing of the lion laptop among others.
Earlier in a remark, the chairman of the End of Service committee, Prof. Nnanyelugo Okoro, while describing the vice chancellor as a consummate administrator and a professional per excellence, said his tenure had achieved tremendously in all ramifications.