On the 9th of June
2009, when Prof. Bartho Okolo took over as the 13th Vice-Chancellor of
the University of Nigeria, he promised the university community that
he was on a mission to position the Institution as a global force in
research and knowledge creation. He said he was to achieve that by
improving the state of infrastructure, enhancing staff competence and
output, fostering new strategic alliances and creating enabling
environment.
Five years after, as Prof Okolo prepares to ‘step
aside’ for another Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Faculties, in faculty board
meetings with the Vice-Chancellor, bared their minds on how Prof.
Okolo’s administration had affected their individual faculties and the
University in general. Continue after the cut...
Dean Faculty of Agriculture, Prof. S.O.C.
Ugwu said “With respect to staff development, it is noteworthy that
during your tenure, you employed 32 Graduate Assistants in the
departments of the Faculty, all of whom had First Class in their
Bachelors degree programmes. This underscores your respect for and deep
interest in excellence”. Prof. Ugwu added that “it can be
unequivocally stated that since the end of the Nigerian civil war, which
completely devastated the University, no administration has caused
tremendous improvements in the University’s infrastructure than yours”.
Dean,
Faculty of Arts, Prof. Uchenna Anyanwu, maintained that history of the
University of Nigeria would not be complete without the repeated and
conspicuous mention of the administration of Prof. Bartho Okolo. The Dean congratulated the Vice-Chancellor on his achievements and prayed God to grant him success in his futures endeavours.
Dean,
Faculty of Biological Sciences, Prof. F. C. Chilaka said “the faculty
is very appreciative of the work done so far in JIMBAZ Building. Before
you became the Vice-Chancellor, the Faculty of Biological Sciences was
mushroomed all over the University. Today the Faculty has a permanent
address. We thank you immensely for the building and, more especially,
the laboratories in JIMBAZ, DENET and ZWELLING buildings. Impact factor
research can now increase in Biological Sciences”.
Dean, Faculty of
Business Administration, Prof.(Mrs) C.E. Ugwuonah congratulated the
Vice-Chancellor on the success of his tenure and noted that the
University of Nigeria fared better under the Leadership of Prof. Okolo.
Dean,
Faculty of Dentistry, Dr (Mrs) Linda Okoye, highlighted the benefits of
her Faculty under the administration of Prof. Okolo to include:
provision of nine (9) new state-of-the-art Phantom head units, and
setting up of new prosthetic and advanced conservative laboratories.
“Following your passion for internationalisation, and world best
practices, the Faculty has secured collaborations with University of
Columbia Canada, and Georgia Health Sciences University, USA. This has
resulted in staff/student exchange programme between our faculty and
that of UCC. The first set of three students just returned from Canada”,
she said. Dr Okoye added that the administration facilitated the
relocation of the Faculty to its administrative building and also
enhanced the full accreditation of the Faculty by the Medical Dental
Council of Nigeria in 2012.
Dean, Faculty of Education, Prof. Ike
Ifelunni acknowledged that the transformation strides of the Okolo’s
administration were beneficial to his Faculty in the areas of
refurbishments of building and environmental beautification. “As a
Faculty Sir, we cherish our position as strategic partners in these
monumental accomplishments. We also thank you immensely for the
refurbishing of the old Harden Faculty building and its corresponding
beautification with attractive landscaping as well as the provision of
numerous state of the art facilities for the promotion of teaching and
learning. We cannot also forget the on-going VTE building”, he said.
The
Dean described Prof. Okolo as an astute administrator with sense of
purpose, focus and courage. His word; “I am sure you have played your
part as an academic, astute administrator, visionary leader and
consummate apostle of world Class University with an unquenchable
appetite for transformation. Without doubt, you were not only here; you
came, saw and conquered”.
Dean Faculty of Engineering, Prof. T.C.
Madume, said; “from the Southern gate to the Northern gate, and from the
Western gate to the Eastern side of the University, there are visible
signs of the legacy you will be leaving behind as former Vice-Chancellor
of UNN. Any person or visitor to the campus will see the great
transformation of infrastructure that has been put in place during your
administration. This cannot be wished away as it is a present reality”.
Dean,
Faculty of Environmental Studies, Prof. C. Okpala-Okaka, said Okolo’s
administration has improved the quality of infrastructure and the
standard of education in the University. In the Faculty of Health
Sciences and Technology, the Dean, Prof. O.E. Onwujekwe observed that
the University of Nigeria has remained in the top three research active
institutions in Nigeria since the Vice-Chancellor came on board. “Sir,
permit me to observe that you came to the helm of affairs when the
infrastructure facilities were grossly inadequate to promote/support the
vision and mission of UNN towards restoring the dignity of man. You
championed development appreciably and academic excellence towards
international best practices”.
The supervising Dean, Faculty of Law
and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Enugu Campus), Prof. Ifeoma Enemuo, stated
that Prof. Okolo’s administration facilitated the faculty’s
accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the
increase in its admission quota from 180 to 212. The administration,
according to her, equally constructed Faculty building for the Faculty
of Law, recruited 15 lecturers, provided project vehicle, furnished the
Faculty’s classrooms with over 1000, seats, and championed the creation
of three additional departments in the Faculty. “I pray that the next
Vice-Chancellor would remember the Faculty of Law like Okolo”.
Dean,
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Prof Basil Ezeonolue noted that Okolo’s
administration was able to attract TETFund investment to the
Cardiothoracic Centre of the Faculty. He thanked the Vice-Chancellor for
remodelling the faculty’s classrooms, and fitting them with modern
learning chairs.
The Dean, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Prof. Vincent Okore, took time to chronicle the impact of Okolo’s
administration in his Faculty. According to him, the administration
started the construction of the first phase of the Faculty building
which had defied attention of previous administrations. In staff
development, the Dean said that the Vice-Chancellor ensured the
promotion of its entire staff that were due for promotion. According to
him, Faculty of Pharmaceutical sciences got “a total of ten professors
during your tenure, more than what it got in any other Vic-Chancellor’s
tenure in this University”.
Further, Prof. Okore said that the
Vice-Chancellor graciously approved study- leave- with- pay for all
staff of the Faculty that travelled overseas for their Ph.D programmes,
and also approved the appointments of not less than seven graduate
assistants from best graduating students of the Faculty based on the
recommendation of the Faculty. Besides allocating 20 hectares of
land for medicinal plant garden as requested by the Faculty, the Dean
said that Prof. Okolo had also facilitated a linkage programme between
the Faculty, and College of Pharmacy, Howard University, Washington DC.
In the Faculty of Physical Sciences, the Dean, Prof. C. M. I.
Okoye thanked the out-going Vice-Chancellor for reconstructing and
upgrading the Carver building. “As a faculty, we would like to put on
record our heartfelt appreciation of the effort of your administration
to clean-up the outlook of our university. Visitors to our university
marvel at this transformation. Your efforts in this direction are so
evident that even the most pessimistic critique appreciates them. We
have benefitted from these, especially with the near- complete
reconstruction and upgrading of Carver building, renovation of some of
our laboratories, fitting of chairs to our classrooms and lecture
theatre. These are clear landmarks, given the situation before you took
office as the Vice-Chancellor. Our prayer is that these environmental
and infrastructural developments will continue until all parts of our
campuses are transformed”.
The Dean commended the Vice-Chancellor
on his policy of employing first class graduates, stating that the
policy would enrich the quality of staff of the University in the
future.
Prof. C.O.T. Ugwu, Dean, Faculty of the Social Sciences had
this to say: “It is on track record of this University that more than
ever before, we had experienced an aggressive and unsurpassable
infrastructure and human development in both campuses of the University.
The completed projects and the on-going ones speak volumes in this
regard
“As a Dean and member of the University Appraisal Committee, I
know too well that it is an undeniable fact that within the five years
of this administration, we have had so many staff who have been promoted
to the rank of Professor and other cadres of the University”. Prof.
Ugwu also said that the Okolo-led administration was equally outstanding in
enhancing the aesthetic ambience of the University to the level that
“the blind and all and sundry can testify to the ever-blossoming and
radiating colours of buildings, flowers and the symmetrical landscaping
arrangement in all our campuses”.
Dean, Faculty of Veterinary
Medicine, Prof. S.V.O. Shoyinka, said the administration of Prof. Bartho
Okolo helped his Faculty to build capacity in the areas of teaching and
research. “Not less than 25 of the teaching and non-teaching staff
members of the faculty here seated today were employed during your
tenure as the Vice-Chancellor. A remarkable number of the teaching staff
members benefitted from the TETFund travel grant, and you were always
providing necessary support to the Faculty during the different
accreditation/Examinations monitoring visits of the Veterinary Council
of Nigeria”.
Prof. Shoyinka added that his Faculty, in 2012 and 2013,
received consignments of laboratory equipments which helped to
strengthen research and teaching works among staff of the Faculty. “For all these and many more, time will not allow me to mention, we say
very big thank you Sir”, he said.
Inya Agha E.
No comments:
Post a Comment