Borno Governor Elect Applauds Re-appointment of Unimaid VC,, Solicits for Peace, Unity in the Varsity
As he Urges the VC to be Rational Leader
The Borno State Governor elect, Professor Babagana Umara has applauded the re-emergence of Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi as the Vice Chancellor of University of Maiduguri for the second term.
He also appealed to the university community anÉ— all stakeholders to be mindful of the position of the institution as Center of academic excellence by embracing destiny over whoever emergences as the leader of the varsity without any conflict or misunderstanding.
Professor Zulum who stated this Wednesday in a statement, urged all and sundry to embrace peace , unity and progress in the interest of the university while reminding the stakeholders of the reasons behind the establishment of the varsity by the federal government.
He said: "I humbly write as a key stakeholder of the institution to add voice to the on-going controversy surrounding the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor of our revered University.
"Let me remind ourselves that the University is an educational system where high level manpower is trained for socio-economic and political growth of the country.
"As such the leadership plays an invaluable role in achieving such academic excellence in areas of knowledge acquisition, provision of functional, technical and scientifi skills and competencies necessary to societal growth and development.
"It is in view of this eminent position of the Universities that the Federal Government emphatically spelt out the goals of tertiary education in National Policy on Education; Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN:2012), to include:-
i. Contribute to national development through high level relevant
manpower training;
ii. Develop and inculcate proper values for the survival of the
individual and society;
iii. Develop the intellectual capacity of individuals to understand and
appreciate their local and external environment;
iv. Acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will enable
individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society;
v. Promote and encourage scholarship and community service;
vi. Forge and cement national unity; and
vii. Promote National and International understanding and interaction.
"Definitely the role of the University leadership in maintaining academic
excellence becomes of essence in order to achieve these laudable goals.
"It is my candid opinion that the unwarranted controversies over the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor will negatively impact upon good governance and an unnecessary distraction from the goals and objectives set for University", Abbagana said.
The governor elect further appealed to them to focus their attention as academics in the selection of a Vice-Chancellor who must be on the stand points of competence, merit and intellectual integrity.
He said as key stakeholders and members of the respected academic community, they must stand together to safeguard the high quality of governance and academic delivery in our university.
"We need to look ourselves straight in the eye and tell ourselves the home
truth that the system can never make headway if we continue to think of achieving the set goals of University education when we create unwarranted divisions within, ourselves.
"Let us all support the due process as laid down in the selection of our Vice-Chancellor and at the end, let us all join hands to support whoever that emerges as the new Vice-Chancellor for the benefit of our dear state and our country", Zulum said.
Profeasir Umara Zulum reminded them that power belongs to God and only He gives to whosoever he wants and it is not possible to change the destiny.
"As key stake-holders of the University, we give our pledge to support the University in achieving it laudable objectives especially in the following areas:-
a) Provision of conducive Teaching and Learning environment.
b) Build the Institutional Capacity of the University.
c) Promotion of Research and innovation.
d) Provision of Housing facilities for staff.
e) Provision of Water and Power supply.
f) Improve the socio-economic condition of the youth and women in the campus.
g) Staff Development.
Babagana Umara added that University and indeed the University community have suffered serious setback in the last two decades as a result of the unhealthy nature of the internal politics surrounding the selection of the Vice-Chancellor.
"It is high time we discard divisive tendencies in our body politic in the interest of pursuits for academic excellence and integrity.
He therefore called on all and sundry to pray for the best to emerge among the contestants and urged them to eschew bitterness to mutually work together in the selection of the Vice-Chancellor.
" Let it be a win-win situation to forestall good governance and foster academic excellence.
"We pray for the Vice-Chancellor that emerges to embrace everybody in the collective pursuit of the common goals set for the good of our community and country", Zulum said.