I met Unilorin a palace but leaving it a castle – VC

Outgoing Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali, speaks to ABDULRAHMAN A ABDULRAUF and UMAR BAYO ABDULWAHAB on his experience as he looks forward to taking his exit in August. The trained veterinary doctor delightedly tells our reporters among others, the challenges he faces in getting the institution running, his relationship with ASUU, and why, in the last 17 years, the university’s academic calendar has remained uninterrupted. Excerpts

Close to fi ve years as the Chief Executive of University of Ilorin, how has it been? It’s been a very pleasant experience. Let me start by welcoming you to the University of Ilorin and thank you for the job which you started sometimes back. To me, the past four and half years have been an interesting one, a bit challenging, but we thank God that we have been able to survive the storm.

I wouldn’t say it is easy, butt is a worthwhile journey. If you have a defi ned destination, of course along the way, you are bound to experience some hiccups. But thank God, we survived it and we have been surviving it, so we have to give thanks to almighty Allah for seeing us through. From Maiduguri to Ilorin, what was the most amazing thing you met on ground? I think I have to admire the commitment of staff to their duties, it’s been very amazing the way I met staff on ground.

Th en, the land asset of the University of Ilorin, it can’t be compared to any other university in Nigeria, so I found that too very amazing. And then the way everybody relates to each other is also very astonishing, it is an asset that anybody that comes and has to reach his destinations, must leverage on in achieving his aims and objectives What is your comment on the alleged maladministration from some quarters against the system?

Th e allegations have no basis and where you have a system that is working, don’t be surprised Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali Interview Outgoing Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali, speaks to ABDULRAHMAN A ABDULRAUF and UMAR BAYO ABDULWAHAB on his experience as he looks forward to taking his exit in August.

The trained veterinary doctor delightedly tells our reporters among others, the challenges he faces in getting the institution running, his relationship with ASUU, and why, in the last 17 years, the university’s academic calendar has remained uninterrupted. Excerpts that you will have a few people derailing the system .I remember during the era of instability within the system, some people went as far as blackmailing the university, writing all kind of things on the internet and using all kind of media assets at their deposal to discredit the management of the University of Ilorin.

And then, you know we have come a long way and the 17 years of interrupted academic calendar, I learnt in some quarters that their mission is to destabilise the University of Ilorin system. So, all eff ort that they are making is to achieve that particular aim. Th ank God, God is on our side and we are able to discredit all their allegations, we have a system that is working here in University of Ilorin.

Th e committee system is a near perfect system because it doesn’t give an individual to do and undo what he wants. Everything is based on committee system and whatever the committee decides that is what prevails both in terms of award and execution of contracts. Th e government has everything in place to checkmate whatever that is going on in any part of the country. I am sure that those that have been coming to check our school, have given us pass mark because they know what they are doing because they are professionals. How is the varsity diversifying in this period of economic recession?

I think the government presently is doing the right thing by encouraging patronage of made in Nigerian goods because by so doing, we will be able to conserve our foreign reserves to be useful for other import things, because the issue of where even tooth pick is imported is not good for the country. And by the time small scale industries are encouraged, that will bring Nigeria back to its good working days.

I remember the era of Cocoa, ground nuts pyramid and rubber, we were not looking out for all those things ,we tried as much as possible to concentrate on eating what we were producing. But along the line, we just changed our taste and we are consuming all those imported goods .And in terms of agriculture ,the federal government is encouraging both the state government and entrepreneurs to go into farming ,most especially rice farming, and by the time that aspect of importation is controlled, a lot of foreign exchange will be saved, and a lot of people will be taken back to the farm to work and all other agro allied industries will spring up and Nigeria will be back again on the right part.

On what the university is doing to diversify our own income, I am sure you must have seen while coming in here plantations both on the left and right sides of the road, and then we have oil plantation too. Also, we have small scale industries that we are planning and then we have innovations that we are trying to convert into product that will bring some fi nancial dividends. One of them is speed limiter which the federal government is encouraging all motorists to put in their cars.

Th is is what the University of Ilorin academics and staff have been able to brainstorm and come up with. We are also partnering with a lot of companies, the fi rst is the solar power that is also coming and the university, apart from us getting light to supplement what we are getting now, we will also have some percentage to be used for commercial purpose. Th at is again a means of diversifying our IGR. Just a few of our survival strategies, or better put, diversifi cation. Sir the story of this solar project has been on for some time now.

When are we really expecting the eff ective take-off ? For some time now, we have been battling with one form of challenges or the other, but the people have given me the assurance that they have been recruiting and will soon hit the ground running Funding challenges and projects executions First of all, we must thank the federal government for supporting the university to execute a greater number of those projects. We also acknowledge the friends of University of Ilorin far and near who have also helped us to mobilise funds to come and put up those few projects.

I also like to thank the entrepreneurs in Nigeria and elsewhere for answering our calls to come and partner with us in developing University of Ilorin, more especially, the students hostels because that is where the Nigeria entrepreneurs really mobilised funds to support us. Sir, University of Ilorin is one of the most sought after by admission seekers because of the academic stability. But recently, the national leadership of ASUU came up with some sanctions against the university, saying the system is not working the way it should. What is your take?

I disagree with the view that the system is not working the way it should. You people (media) are supposed to monitor us. We have the committee of VCs who are supposed to monitor the academic standards in all Nigerian Universities. We just had our accreditation last December where we presented up to 23 programmes and all the 23 had full accreditation. Before then, we had few other ones. Secondly, the other people that can monitor what you are doing are your clients, people that you serve and as you said, the last three or four years, we

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