Speech by the Vice-Chancellor, Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI),FUNAI, Ebonyi State, on the occasion of a meeting with teaching and non-teaching senior staff on Tuesday August 30, 2016
Dear Colleagues
1. Appreciation
Who else would I appreciate first but the creator of heaven and earth, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please let’s jointly acknowledge Him by this:
I could not do without Thee
O Savior of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost.
Thy righteousness, Thy pardon
Thy precious blood, must be
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea.
I could not do without Thee,
I cannot stand alone,
I have no strength or goodness,
No wisdom of my own;
But Thou, belovèd Savior,
Art all in all to me,
And weakness will be power
If leaning hard on Thee.
Frances R. Havergal, May 7, 1873
It has been six months since February 2016.
I start by expressing appreciation for welcoming and accepting us, my wife and me, in this experience which in our humble assessment can only be what God has willed. As I have said severally, I am nothing special, and certainly there are many persons who could have been appointed.
Severally I have appreciated the pioneers here in FUNAI: My predecessor Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, the erstwhile Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Mosto Onuoha, the Registrar, GO Chukwu, the Bursar, Alhaji Aliu, and the Librarian, Dr Adedeji – Principal Officers. The same applies to all pioneer staff, Deans and Heads of Departments, and indeed all staff. Most importantly, the pioneer students who agreed to come and, by so doing, justified the existence of this University.
To the pioneer management, I wish to emphasize my appreciation again. It could not have been easy. They are not perfect. Perfection is only of God. Many persons may find areas of disagreement with what the pioneers have done, but the road is different when you are not the driver.
2. Honour to whom honour is due
Our pioneer Vice Chancellor Prof. Oye Ibidapo Obe, as is expected of all Universities, will have the Main Library named after him. It shall be called the Oye Ibidapo-Obe Library upon completion. My hope is that the Library will be ready ahead of the first convocation when we hope to have Professor Ibidapo-Obe physically here again. If the library is ready, as we hope, we will dedicate the library the day before the convocation. Naming the main library in a university after the first vice-chancellor is the position of the National Universities Commission, and a culture we are agreed to institutionalize.
We however know that in the period from 2011 to 2016, the pioneer Registrar GO Chukwu has borne a lot of responsibilities beyond the office of the Registrar. He has also taken a lot of the punches. It is my desire to seek approval to name the current administration building after him. It should be called the GO Chukwu Administration Building.
These will mark the gradual naming of buildings on our campus and, as we get to the stage of proper layout for our campus, there will be more naming to be done.
Meanwhile we have established the Pioneer Garden. In the garden we have planted trees received as donations from staff and students. Of course you know that God, at creation, established the first Garden, the Garden of Eden, for the comfort and pleasure of man. I will encourage everyone to contribute trees to the FUNAI Pioneer Garden and the general greening of this campus environment.
3. The University Council
In the period since assumption of office, the Federal Government appointed new external members of Council. We are particularly lucky with the members appointed. Our Council is headed by an experienced and humane academic, Professor Mba Uzoukwu. He is a man who has seen it all, and he knows what we are passing through.
For the internal members, Senate agreed that they continue to represent us, and that we agreed that irrespective of what Government does with external members, the FUNAI culture shall be to elect members who will serve us for four years. I believe that the two members of congregation will also serve in like manner.
Council held her first meeting in June 2016 and, among others, approved some pending promotions. Council also concluded the process started by the previous Council to appoint a substantive Director of Physical Planning. The next Council Meeting will hold on September 7 and 8, 2016. Meanwhile we took over and remodeled a temporary building from one of the contractors working on campus for use as Council Office.
In the course of the last Council meeting, we visited with the State Governor. His Excellency was very magnanimous. The Governor reiterated his commitment to complete the FUNAI road. The Governor has to a large extent met this commitment as our road is now obviously better. Senate has resolved that we formally thank His Excellency, Governor Dave Nweze Umahi, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State. Please join in thanking the Governor and the Government of Ebonyi state. The Governor also promised some more support to FUNAI including the construction of one kilometer internal road, support for Civil Engineering programme and facilities for our JUPEB in Abakaliki town, among others. May God continue to bless him.
4. We are a privileged generation
When I met with Prof Ibidapo-Obe in Lagos after assumption of office, I made him know that although he had been Vice Chancellor at the University of Lagos, before the rare opportunity of serving at FUNAI, I believe history is likely to remember him more at FUNAI than Lagos. The same applies to all of us. Each one of us at this time in the history of this University is a pioneer of some sort and that is a rare and privileged opportunity. As for me, I am the Vice Chancellor that graduated the first set. Privileges come with responsibilities. The primary responsibility of this time is to set the right culture. We must have culture and attitude consistent with our motto, excellence and integrity.
5. I did not meet nothing
On assumption of office, I met a lot of good and positive work already done. I will continue to appreciate those who were here before my coming. Thank you. I did not have to start afresh. Of all I met, one interesting one is that you had agreed that we shall build a WORLD CLASS UNIVERSITY. I know for sure that a team with world-class determination and world-class processes can achieve any world-class goal they set their mind upon. Hence, I have asked a few times if we would rather abandon that lofty goal and go for lower-hanging fruit. I ask again today, do we reverse that goal?
If you insist on world-class as target,you may please do well to familiarize yourself with: Building a World Class University: Imperatives, Realities and Strategies by Prof. Michael O. Faborode, Executive Secretary of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigeria Universities: www.cvcnigeria.org/media/force.php). You may also see Survey of Attributes of World Class Professors by Professor Okebukola, former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission. This is available on Youtube.
6. Pursuit is the evidence of desire
We must understand what our avowed goal of becoming a world class university means. We must be conscious of the universe in the university. We are the university emerging when the mentalities of the oil boom and military rule are receding. We are the University of the Era of the Social Media and a world that has become closer than in the past. We are the University of the Era of Competition.
In my first address to Senate I did say that Universities in Nigeria and elsewhere can no longer take their relevance for granted. Particularly the generation of post-2000 Universities in Nigeria must justify their establishment. The idea of the University as an assemblage of the knowledgeable and with character is one we have to hold and uphold. We cannot, as iron, rust if we are Gold. We have to uphold the idea of the Ivory Tower. We have to lead society. We have to extend the frontiers of knowledge. We have to teach truth. We have to solve the challenges of our society and serve our communities. The service you provide, the problems you solve are what ultimately makes you important. Privileges without responsibilities, rights without duties, benefits without costs, are some of what we must avoid as we keep World Class University in sight.
7. Sweet from sweat endures
Our new university anthem which we presented at Senate in June has the line that FUNAI holds that sweet from sweat endures. Our responsibilities are no piece of cake, especially against the background of a society disoriented by years of the experiences our country has had and how we have been socialized. We are a people who, faced with severe unemployment, will write an application letter starting with “I beg to apply…” but when offered employment,are lost to the right attitude to our job.
a. Attitude
One recent experience is when we start work and close each day. I enjoyed some of the comments that got back to me when we were reminded that work starts at 8 am and closes at 4pm. The University is established by certain legal instruments and we are subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A Vice Chancellor has no powers to alter work hours. Recently I was in Abuja to see the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, and he asked me to see him in his office at 8 am. I got to the Ministers’ office by 7.45 am, and indeed the Honourable Minister was in the office at 8 am.
But we also live in a country where farmers get up before 5 am, and where people in some parts of Lagos leave their houses by 4 am to get to their work places early.
But sometimes it is also that bad roads have led to this. Luckily the road to FUNAI is now in a good shape and we do not have to be reminded that in some other schools staff report for work at 10 am. That is not world class. It’s the attitude.
Sometime also you find students who want to determine when they want examinations started and ended. That is not world class. Others would rather there are no examinations. That is not world class.
b. The tragedy of the commons: the communally owned goat goes without food
But that was about coming late to work. What about not coming at all? Full time Professors who will not attend Senate from month to month. Professors, Lecturers and other staff who never show up from month to month. We began to look like the favourite University for sabbaticals and Adjuncts. Not that there is something wrong with that per se, until the staff begin to focus on taking and not giving. A portraiture of the communal grazing land owned by no one and cared for by no one. That is not sustainable. The scavenger culture cannot synchronize with the loftiness of a University. The proverbial dog eating the bone hung on its neck has no place amongst us. Anything different is a prescription for degradation. These are symptomatic of our contemporary Nigerian Christianity: memorize the Bible, be regular at worship, but live a different life. Should we be indifferent to this?
I salute the vision of those who started work on the sexual harassment policy ahead of my coming. I also thank colleagues for finally approving that policy within this period. We encourage the committee we have instituted on sexual harassment, and remind them that we are not joking about that assignment to educate us – staff and students – on the contents and consequences of the new policy era.
c. Nemo dat quad non habet: You do not give what you do not have
A university is a very serious institution. Probably the most serious institution in the world. We must be orderly. Staff must not only have the right character and attitude but must be knowledgeable. We award degrees for character and learning. If we do not have those, how shall we give what we do not have?
I appreciate Senate once again for approving a staff improvement programme. We are still waiting for the conclusion of the consideration and implementation of the report of the committee. We cannot assume we do not realize that there are issues with respect to recent graduates who have become staff in universities. We owe them a deliberate scheme to improve them. Unlike many other agencies and institutions, universities are about the only place where people are employed and are assumed to know what is expected of them. Participation in the Staff Improvement Programme is compulsory for Graduate Assistants to Lecturer 1. Administrative staff will also have training sessions. We see issues with respect to attitudes of staff in relating with bosses and subordinates. We see staff who by choice or ignorance cannot route memos properly.
Let me also mention that on assumption, we met the Gender policy draft and concluded it. We thank Senate for this.
We also thank Senate for agreeing we establish a Bookshop. That has since taken off. We also agreed that FUNAI lecturers will not sell books or handouts to students. We agreed that lecturers should recommend world class books to our students, and stocked by our bookshop. We agreed that our lecturers should write books, which we shall evaluate before recommending to students, and stocking by the bookshop.
8. Our totem: the soaring eagle
We are endowed by nature, for which we are grateful to God. But we cannot fold our arms. Unleashing our kinetics will create the dynamics that propel us to excel and attain heights we should.
We recently rejigged the logo we met on arrival. We retained the salt, but rather than have it in a calabash as used to be the case, we now have it in the traditional clay pot autochthonous to us. We inserted the traditional three stripes around the pot, a motif from our mothers and motherland to reflect our fertility. We retained the salt for its purity as well as its preserving and tasteful characteristics which represent our excellence and integrity. It also reflects an appreciation of nature’s kindness to us, especially regarding our location in Ebonyi State, the Salt of the Nation. We removed the map of Ebonyi State with the thirteen local Governments, which not even the Ebonyi State University has in its logo. No other Federal nor State University logo or totem contains a map of the state in which it is located. With that out, we can appreciate the clarity of the fountain in the logo, which represents our efforts and the fact that we go beyond our natural resource base to attain success. The water fountain falls beyond the salt in the pot, to show that our success shall transcend our land to lands far beyond. When we have done that, we soar above all others like the eagle, the white eagle in peace and in integrity. King of the limitless skies and owner of the horizons.
FUNAI is the soaring eagle.Being white represents the potential for an infinite variety of colors which a FUNAI eagle can manifest. You can paint your own color, loud or gentle,bright or subdued, as far as your determination and capacity can take you; but the white of integrity and peace remains your base.
9. Ducks cannot teach eagles to fly
The soaring eagle cannot afford to have her wings tied to a stone. We cannot afford to choose mediocrity. It is not consistent with world class. I again appreciate those who before my coming set the target of a world class university and started work on the FUNAI appointment and promotion guidelines. I want to again thank Senate for approving that.
I congratulate ahead all those who in this year’s promotion assessment scaled through. I know the natural preference of man is to fall to the law of inertia – Newton’s first law of motion, that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. My prediction is that this guideline will set us apart and ahead in a changing world of academia, that must necessarily be differentiated. We can do it. Yes, we can do it. Matthew 7:13 teaches us to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”
The Eagle is a symbol of strength and character, and as we learn from Isaiah 40:31“…those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” These are the critical building blocks for a glorious future. No university can rise higher than the quality of her professors. No school can be better than the quality of her teachers.
For our students we are not indifferent to the familiar lapses noticed with respect to the products of universities. Again, I thank Senate for approving a special language enhancement programme. We look forward to take off in the 2016/2017 session. FUNAI graduates should not stumble with writing things as simple as “Original collected by me”.
10. Baking and expanding the cake: Programmes
We met an obvious need to demerge faculties and departments. Our constraint has been lack of facilities. We however split the Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences into two – Faculty of Humanities, and Faculty of Management and Social Sciences. Senate also approved the establishment of a Department of Banking and Finance.
To make FUNAI relevant to our immediate environment, we are commencing a Faculty of Agriculture and a Faculty of Education.We also renamed some programmes to make them consistent with what the NUC has advised. We thus have Fine and Applied Arts, instead of Visual Arts.
11. Matters of Leadership
Senate appointed a new Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. S. Elom. Also, some faculties elected Deans, while the VC made a few appointments of some Deans, Directors, and Heads of Departments.
A number of Committees have been constituted or rejigged including Ceremonials, Public and Inaugural Lectures, Research Grant, and that of TETFUND. The one on TETFUND ensures, among other things, that those selected are broadly decided.
12. Quality Matters
We are committed to the quality issue. We shall be strengthening the Directorate of Academic planning with a Quality Assurance office. Within what is financially possible, we shall expand and deepen e-learning and ICT facilities.
It is important to bear in mind that the quality of our teachers is very important in any learning institution. This generation of young academics is lucky with the TETFUND. I appeal for responsible use of that to improve quality.
We recently met with the French Ambassador in Nigeria. We agreed to partner with France by identifying and sending young academicsfor postgraduate training in France. Please take the opportunity.
From the external examination reports received so far, the External Examiners have commended the quality of our first products. I thank all of our staff for this. But we must try some more. We must improvethe student quality and employability, as the new era that has emerged in Nigeria is for graduates who will be self-employed and employ others. I once again thank Senate for approving the Student language programme. The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Employability has been directed to generate a memo to Senate on how to attract industry leadership to lecture/interact with the university community, staff and students.
We have also learnt that the just concluded second semester examination is the best in terms of examination malpractice cases. Not one case was recorded. We are getting better. We appreciate the Examination Committee headed by Dr. Omaka. It certainly is not an easy responsibility.
13. New drum beats, new dance steps: Reaching out
My belief is that we appreciate the changed and difficult economic situation that has been confronting the country. It does seem the economy will remain challenged for some more time to come. However, wemust march on.
On issues such as hostels, Government has advised we seek private investors. Management is open and willing to encourage all of us to be part of this. Bring ideas, and encourage those you know. This campus is crying for investors. In this regard, I appreciate the Staff Cooperative for planning a shopping mall.We also thank the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology for encouraging NASDRA to establish a research laboratory for the South East here in FUNAI Campus.We equally appreciate the Senator for Ebonyi Central, Obinna Ogba for donating a television set and related DSTV facilities to our female hostel. We also thank him for two Boreholes done so far, and promise of a Transformer and a Sports complex.We appreciate the State Governor for promise of one kilometer of internal road and support for the Civil Engineering programme.We appreciate Chanto, the contractor handling the Faculty of Humanities for the building he remodeled for use as Council office, and for donating two hundred bags of cement.
Furthermore, we appreciate Ambassador Lawrence Nwuruku for donating a trailer load of cement.We also appreciate Mr. Chinedu Ogar for his commitment in pushing our linking to the national power supply, as well as being part of our contacts on possible support for ecological challenges in our campus. Further appreciations go to Tenece for scholarships to our students, and some others who have made commitments for instituting awards and prizes for graduating students. This includes Prof. Philip Omoke (Economics), and the Inyang Eteng (Sociology). We further appreciate Mr. Chukwu, a furniture maker in Abakaliki who has donated two tables. We also thank FUNAI Graduating Class 2016, our Pioneer Alumni, for donating and installing waste disposal facilities around the campus.
I may have missed some. Please that is not intentional.
This is only the beginning. God willing, we shall achieve a robust partnership with industry and other development partners for purposes of developing the University.
14. “Where is Pole 18?”
A Gentleman who visited and made presentation to management made me realize one simple thing that when you go to Rome you find all the castles and magnificent houses built at the height of the Roman Empire, even years after the end of that empire. The lesson is that structures do not make the empire.
The quality of teaching, research, community service is what makes the university. But you cannot be indifferent when you can only point at where the university land starts but not where it ends, at a certain Pole 18. You cannot but be restless when someone says to you, “my Child cannot school here”.
Being a University that is in a hurry to transform with rather little funds, we are learning to do things a bit differently while still keeping to extant laws and regulations. Let us sacrifice some personal comfort; forego one sponsorship to a meeting so we can do one meter of fence. Let us attract and ask everyone to help. We have started fencing, one block a week, we may say.The landscaping hasalso commenced. The walkways are being done.We are forcing our way into uncompleted buildings. Basic Medical Sciences have moved in. Sciences have movedin. Engineering has takenover what used to be the crèche (we shall have to find FUNAI women a new place). Engineering also shares the ICT building. The DAP as well shares the ICT Building. The Social sciences has also moved.
That is not all. We continue to build and repair seats in classrooms so our students don’t take classes standing or seating on blocks. We are furnishing our laboratories so our students do not have to go to another university for practicals, while we pay that university and its staff for it. We are buying some chairs and tables for staff.We have had to assist contractors put doors to buildings so we can move in and save our lecturers the trouble and embarrassment of using their cars for offices.We hope to move the Faculty of Humanities to the new building in the coming weeks.
The stronger the battle, the sweeter the victory. Our obvious position makes our efforts more likely to be appreciated by posterity. All hands on deck. Our priorities right. From sweat, sweet is already detected. We have invited the NUC for pending resource verification and accreditation visits and we trust God that FUNAI will come out successful. Recently, we got linked up to public power supply and hope to end years of running permanently on generators.
15. Building without pattern?
Not exactly. But imagine a contractor with less certificates than you telling you “Mr. Vice Chancellor, it seems these buildings are located without pattern.” Once again, not exactly. We have done the Academic Brief to the satisfaction of the NUC, and will soon resolve the Master plan with the NUC. We welcome the new Director of Physical planning, Arc. Dr. Nzeocha. I am optimistic that we shall together develop the most beautiful and most green campus in Nigeria.
16. Staff welfare
We still have not paid the 20 percent of net salaries for senior staff in February 2016. There are also issues of the promotion arrears for those that got their letters this year, 28 days in lieu of accommodation from January 2016 till date for some staff, and the last batch of relocation allowance for some staff. ASUU, NASU, and NAAT have been on this. We are all together in this and we will see to these as soon as the university can. Please thank you for understanding. But I must add that we expect the unions to adopt the staff cooperative move of becoming investors in the physical development of the university.
17. November 26 – a date of harvest
All things being equal, our first convocation shall hold on Saturday November 26, 2016, the last Saturday in November, 2016. Council has approved that the last Saturday in November each year shall be convocation day. So, we shall have convocation lecture on Friday November 25 and also open the new library same day.
I must not fail to appreciate all the staff who made this possible. Thank you that we finished the second semester examinations and our students had external examinations within weeks after the last paper. We thus started on the right culture, unlike what has emerged commonly in some places where for a four year programme students end examinations for courses in four years and take one year to do the research project. Seems small, but it has gradually become the unfortunate new normal in a number of places.
18. The days ahead
Exodus 14: 15-16: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”
We must look forward to the days ahead with optimism. God gave us eyes in front to look forward and ahead. We learn from the past but must not be fixated with the past. Let us build on what we have and use what we have, even if only a rod, do better in the days ahead. All hands please on deck.
We hope we shall be able to address issues of staff housing on campus, change the landscape, commence public and inaugural lecture, and strengthen our faculties and all these in the short-to-medium term. We should have a green campus strong on alternative energy to fossils, including solar energy. We should attract international scholars, and build a university of which we shall be proud to have been pioneers.
We shall soar like the eagle.
19. Conclusion: We are able to go up and take the country….
Without doubt, staff of FUNAI are doing well in the circumstance we find ourselves. We encourage every staff to be passionate with the job. Please be patriotic, respectful of subordinates, treat each other well, including our students, for so shall we have a useful alumni. Be punctual and regular to work to justify before God, if not man, the blessing of a job in this difficult time, and so SERVICOM is not a problem to you.
Once again, I thank you for the successful end of the 2015/2016 session. We look forward to the commencement of the 2016/2017 session this October.
Our challenges seem much, but because I believe God has sent us here for His purpose, we shall do it His way. As I told Senate on assumption, I believe God will grant my prayer, that at the end of this experience, it shall be said, a child of God was here.
In ending I ask we reflect on Numbers 13: 30: “Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it! ”
We may together please sing:
We are able to go up and take the country….
To possess the land from Jordan to the sea….
Though the giant maybe on our way to hinder….
God will surely give us victory….
Move on the righteous side…..
Thank you.
Your brother, friend, and colleague
Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba
Vice Chancellor
