Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Government appoints vice chancellors for new federal universities

I will like to congratulate Professor Aluko on his recent appointment to the position of VC at one of the new Federal Universities in Bayelsa State.

 

Kolawole Adegbola.

----- Original Message -----

From: Funmi Tofowomo Okelola

To: Cafeafricana

Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 1:48 AM

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Government appoints vice chancellors for new federal universities

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5675938-146/story.csp

Government appoints vice chancellors for new federal universities 

By Ngozi Sams February 10, 2011 06:13AM

The federal government yesterday announced the appointment of vice chancellors and registrars for the new nine newly approved federal universities which will open in September this year. The former vice chancellor of the University of Lagos, Oye Ibidapo-Obe who is now the vice chancellor of Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi state. Others include Abdulmumini Rafindadi for Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi state; Ekanem Ikpi Braide for Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa state; Mohammed Kabir Farouk for Federal University, Kashere, Gombe state; and Geoffrey Okogbaa for Federal University, Wukari, Taraba state. The rest are James Ayatse for Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina state; Jibrila Dahiru Amin for Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa state; Chinedu Nebo for Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ekiti state; and Bolaji Aluko for Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa state.

While announcing the appointments at a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja, Minister of Education

Ruqqayatu Rufai explained that the decision of the federal government to establish the universities was informed by the desire to provide the access to university education to a larger number of qualified candidates who are annually stranded due to lack of carrying capacity by the existing universities.

The appointments, according to the minister, take effect immediately even as she directed the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to facilitate students' intake into the nine universities by September this year.

She noted that the creation of the new universities was also informed by the principle of equity in the distribution of federal universities to cover all the states of the federation saying "there are at present 12 states without federal universities".

"Federal government has approached the matter systematically by establishing nine universities in the first instance while the remaining three states will have federal universities in due course," she said.

The minister disclosed that a sum of N1.5 billion, which would be sourced by the Education Trust Fund (ETF), has been approved by the federal government for each university.

According to her, the appointment of the vice chancellors and registrars was done to avoid the localization of the new universities and to ensure that they take off as national and international centres of knowledge.

"Care has been taken to ensure that the pioneer vice chancellors were carefully chosen from the ranks of former vice chancellors, deputy vice chancellors, provosts of colleges of medicine as well as distinguished Nigerian professors in the Diaspora," she said. "No vice chancellor shall serve in a university within his or her geo-political zone."

President Goodluck Jonathan had last year directed that a committee be set up to work out the modalities for establishing the new institutions. Kenneth Gbagi, minister of state for education, said that the report of the committee was good. "It has different segments but has to do with the creation of six new universities approved by the federal executive council," he said.

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