If Napoleon is celebrated as one
of the funders and pillars of the modern Europe in view of his remarkable
contributions and stride towards the transformation of the place, then
Professor Sulaiman Bala Mohammed is also a veritable spring board in the present
efforts towards taking or making the Nasarawa State’s University Keffi a World
class citadel of learning, research and academic excellence in the 21st Century
given the zeal and determinations he has presently put in place in that
regards.
The Vice Chancellor who came on
board in an acting capacity on the 9th October, 2018 and as substantive Vice
Chancellor on the 12th April, 2019 have aligned his vision and mission with
that of the University Land set for his administration the task of
repositioning Nasarawa State University to become a world class university.
This entails nourishing a university
system with strong institutions and organs; Council, Senate, Congregation,
Faculty and Departmental Board, that operate on the basis of the rule of law
and time tested principles of transparency and accountability adding that
issues about admission, employment, promotion, graduation will be driven by due
process and transparency.
Other aspects of the system taken
by the Vice Chancellor includes: ICT to drive teaching, learning and research
which he is currently overhauling, fight against unethical conducts by staff
and student including, but not limited to, sale of handouts/grades and extortion,
sexual harassment by staff as well as examination misconduct, drug addiction, cultism
by student as well as the judicious utilization of intervention fund: Tetfund,
Needs Assessment and state government project to build world class
infrastructure and the restoration of quality in university operation and
public confidence in its services.
The Vice Chancellor has also
taken a bold steps to ensure effective service delivering by old staff,
injected doses of discipline, fairness and justices in the system as well as
improve the Science – Art ratio of the university to gradually meet the ration
of 60:40 for Science and Arts respectively through the introduction of Health
Science and Engineering, while the collaboration and network with international
and nation bodies, agencies, universities etc have made a considerable success
in this regard.
To address the issue of
infrastructural deficit, the university under the leadership of Professor
Muhammed has established Public Private Partnership, PPP, and /or Build Operate
and Transfer, BOT, scheme, and has already entered in to partnerships for BOT
with two companies for establishment of printing press, hostel, hotel, filling
station, and the printing press by Bar and Benchers Publishers is at advance
stage of completion.
About the action plan of the university,
the Vice Chancellor has reel out his action plan for the period of his
tenureship, which has gone through the various organ of the University with
modification that includes the improvement of infrastructural development,
institutionalization of the university culture stressing quality research
promotion of staff and students warfare as well as addressing labour related
matter.
Also among the plan include
meeting the needs of units, departments, centres, directorates, institutes and
faculties, establish linkages with other bodies, improvement of funding,
investment in technology solution for teaching, learning and research as well
as improve standard and quality of academic programmes and addressing
environmental sanitation and landscape through promotion of a green university
campus.
Presently, the university has
made steady progress over the years in the discharge of its mandate as it has
grown from three faculties at inception in 2001 namely – Arts and Social Science,
Education and Natural and Applied Science to eight faculties now including
Administration, Agriculture, Social Science and Law adding that the university
has also produce graduates who are contributing to the state and national
development and employers rating of the graduates around the country and beyond
has been positive.
Professor Mohammed
The university is one of the best
public universities in the country and is one of the most subscribed state university
by candidate as evidence in JAMB statistics although, it is a state-owned university,
its staff and students proportion is cosmopolitan due to its proximity to
Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Another remarkable achievement is
that the university has one of the best postgraduate schools in the country
with programmes from all the eight faculties of the university. The post-graduate
programmes are highly subscribed and the programmes are robust and have
produced quality graduates for the state and the nation at large.
It also enjoyed favourable
ranking by the National University Commission, NUC, as one of the leading state
universities in the country. All the programmes of the university have high
profile collaborations with a number of foreign universities as well as international
and national organizations, for exchange of staff and students as well as
institutional support.
Satisfied by the tremendous
effort of the Vice Chancellor, the new governor of the state Engineer Abdullahi
Sule donated a fire fighting truck, the sum of N70 million for the perimeter fencing of its Lafia Campus as
well as another N20 million for the take-off of it Engineering school in Gudi.
All these are apart from the
support enjoyed by the university from the former governor of the state,
Senator Umaru Tankor Al-Makura who has transformed the university to a modern
public university by building access road, constructed hostels and classrooms,
stood with university to a modern public University during her trail period and
bailed out the University from financial mess during the prolonged ASUU strike
in 2018.
Just like Martin Luther Jnr who
in his great speech stated that he has a dream so also the Vice Chancellor has
a dream that Nasarawa State University will emerge as a 21st century university
and one of the best 10 university in the World.
All said and done it can be seen that the Vice
Chancellor has all it takes to take the university to the next level of
development.
