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“A man’s gift makes way for him” says the Good Book, which also offers this timeless guiding principle that has been driving people to pursue excellence in all that they do: “See a man diligent in his business, he will stand before kings and not mean men.”
In every way, Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, has continued to show diligence in driving the infrastructural development initiatives of the university, which are geared towards sustaining academic excellence of the tertiary institution that has set for itself the laudable vision of becoming, in the nearest future, one of the Best 200 universities in the world and Number One in Nigeria. With less than two years left in his tenure, he looks back at the immediate past year and gives an indication of the major goals for this year, particularly the quickening pace of preparations to host the maiden South East University Games, build new hostels and complete key Carbon Zero tourism projects expected to further boost internally generated revenue for the university.
Looking back at the immediate past year, what were the major goals you set and how many of them were achieved?
Our major goals were anchored on our vision, ACADA PROJECT 200, which is to make Nnamdi Azikiwe University rank among the best 200 universities in the world, be one of best first 10 in Africa and number one in Nigeria. Again, the vision stands on five major pillars: the first ‘A’ stands for academic excellence; the ‘C’ is for community service, which is one of the core functions of the university; the second ‘A’ is for administrative reform; ‘D’ is for discipline and the last “A” stands for advancement – which entails advancing in what my predecessors have done and then taking those things forward in all areas – be it infrastructure or human capital development.
In terms of academic excellence, our projection at the beginning of 2022 was to upgrade our learning systems, by utilising what we learned from the experience of COVID-19, which caused global disruption to all operational logistics in education, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, governance, business, among others. One way of accomplishing academic excellence is to deploy ICT in digital appraisal and the digital mode of education which is the in-thing globally. We have launched the learning management system and have started partial deployment of online teaching, especially for programmes that were encumbered by space and time. For instance, our sandwich students have not had any form of contact for about two and half years. They normally come in at a fixed time in the year. So, for the past two and half years they have not had the time because of COVID-19 and the ASUU strikes that followed. These two negatives seriously impinged on their programmes. But now that we have deployed online teaching, they can enjoy virtual teaching and contact. The other is our Continuing Education, which is a weekend programme. It was also negatively impacted. It is moving online; we are now doing defence of postgraduate thesis online, especially for those who for reason of insecurity cannot come to Awka for physical defence. In the same way, external examiners, whether they are in America or Maiduguri can interact with candidates without needing to physically come to Awka.
Still on academic excellence, we have put some emphasis on research. Funding for research is being enhanced through grantsmanship. A lot of departments are now involved in research in the social sciences, engineering, pharmacy, medicine, among others. Several of our academic staff have received national and international research grants.
For instance, the Royal Academy of Engineering, United Kingdom, has started a two-year training programme for UNIZIK engineering students. The academy chose Nigeria and five other African countries for the 100,000 Pounds Sterling programme, which will boost engineering skills in Africa. UNIZIK was selected as the beneficiary institution in Nigeria for the training. We are also experiencing the same thing in terms of students’ participation in international academic contests. As a result of these achievements, the academic ranking of the university has moved up the ladder.
When I came onboard, we were ranked in January 2019 at 4077 at the global level on the Webometrics Ranking Web of Universities (which covers 30,000 institutions in all continents across the world.) For that year, among African universities, we were ranked 147 and 23 in Nigeria. This ranking was done before the ACADA Project 200 was launched. By June 2022, Nnamdi Azikiwe University was ranked at 2983 in the world, 53 in Africa and 12 in Nigeria. What this means is that in three years we have moved 1094 places upward, in terms of academic excellence as teaching and research continue to be enhanced with vital infrastructural facilities. Grantsmanship has been tremendous. As a result, we now have more influence in what we are doing in the society.
We have invested efforts in the area of electricity, to help local industrial organisations in our catchment area, by deploying the expert knowledge of our people, to improve what they are doing. Increasingly, they come to us for one form of support or the other, be it engineering services or other needed services. Even in the biological sciences we are having a lot of interactions with the outside community on what the university can offer. We are doing a lot of research with different stakeholders, from industry to industry. Many of our staff have been appointed to prominent positions in other universities. As we speak, three of our people have been appointed as vice chancellors. Several senior academics from UNIZIK have been appointed into the Cabinet of Governor Chukwuma Soludo. The awareness of human capital development at UNIZIK has grown tremendously. Few days ago, one of our senior officials was appointed as the Bursar of University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Again, as part of the digitalisation programme, the Student Union Government was conducted online, to ensure transparency and eliminate fraud. The software used to do the the SUG election online was developed in-house by Unizik. So we can attest that the goals we set are being achieved. Initially, it was very difficult but it is happening now.
In the area of administration, previously we did things generally. But now everything we are doing is being guided by policy. For instance, in the area of conservation we are planting trees. For that project, we are partnering with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation in environmental management. In this regard, we are engaged in deliberate re-afforestation which is geared towards earning carbon credit. All these initiatives have been documented as a policy approved by the Senate of the university. As at today, there are policies on plagiarism, environmental conservation, deployment of ICT to drive digitalising of almost all academic and administrative operations of the university. The reason we went this route of enacting policies is because if you do things without a policy as the foundation, any vice chancellor that comes tomorrow can abandon such initiatives. This has been the bane of political governance in the country. But with a policy extensively debated and codified by Senate, then what is done will be protected and sustained by the administrations that will come after me. I am happy that what we are doing is making great impact in different aspects of the university’s operations. They are not temporary but permanent because they are based on Senate-approved policies, and in line with global best practices.
We have continued to record strides in infrastructural development. The BUA Group has endowed a state-of-the-art Students Centre at a cost of N1 Billion. The construction will commence this year. The foundation laying ceremony of the Senator Uche Ekwunife Centre for Public Analysis will soon be held.
Also, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, is donating a structure for the College of Health Sciences. We have embarked on the remodelling of lecture halls in the 14 faculties. These lecture halls will be fitted with sound systems and audio-visual equipment, to enable our students learn in reasonable comfort. A conducive learning environment is essential for attainment of academic excellence by students. We now have three operational molecular research centres, one was done under a PPP initiative.
There are several other completed and ongoing infrastructural projects that I cannot list all in this interview. If you want we send you a comprehensive list.
Now that 2023 has rolled in, what new academic programmes and infrastructural projects are expected to take off?
There are a number of academic programmes that will take off in 2033. We will start some programmes in engineering. In Mass Communication, we plan to unbundle the programme, by moving aspects of it online. We are establishing a digital FM radio station which will provide our Mass Communication students opportunity for practical experience in broadcasting. We are also going to start some specialised certificate courses. For instance, we got an endowment from Nigerian Maritime Agency and Safety Administration (NIMASA) for the establishment of a centre on Maritime studies, which be based based at Onitsha, on the bank of River Niger. We will also start a programme on cybersecurity.
What is the update on the plan to develop a residential estate for staff and hostels for studenst within the campus of the university?
The staff housing estate is one of the projects that will take off in 2023. What we have done is that we have secured the support of some banks and finance houses that will fund that project through mortgage loans. In respect of hostels on campus grounds, we have got a commitment from the Dangote Group for two hostels. We are also discussing with some external real estate investors who have expressed interest in building hostels within the campus. We had wanted to involve private developers in the staff housing scheme but the very long period it would take them to recoup their investments discourged them. Recovering investments made in the building of hostels takes a much shorter time than residential staff housing. So we are adopting the mortgage financing option.
Tertiary institutions take strong interest in sports development. Is UNIZIK making moves in this regard too?
Nnamdi Azikiwe University is positioning to achieve excellence in sports. A lot of work has been done in our mini-stadium. The tartan track has been done already. Other ancillary facilities are being completed. We have done some re-organisation in the Sports Directorate, so that it will be able to organise sports events. Already, we are going to host the South East University Games, SEUGA, in November/December 2023. SEUGA is a gathering of all federal, state and private universities in the South East. It will be the biggest sporting event to be hosted by UNIZIK. We are also developing an 18-hole golf course, where work has started. It was delayed a bit because we had funding problem.
Last word:
As part of learning and entertainment, we have built a zoo and procured some of the animals that will be put there. At the zoo, people will be able to see different wild animals live. If not for the strike, the work would have been completed. This is a first in Anambra state.
