Promotes 583 staff across board
The University of Ilorin has become the first university to produce an automobile speed limiter, according to its bulletin at our disposal.
The institution said this was in response to the challenge thrown at institutions of higher learning in the country by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The Vice-Chancellor of the University and Chairman of the Association of West African Universities (AWAU), Prof AbdulGaniyu Ambali, disclosed this penultimate week during a chat with Unilorin Bulletin in his office.
While explaining the motives for the production of the speed limiter, Ambali said: “We were at a meeting of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) some time ago in Abuja and we were told to double our research efforts to solve Nigeria’s social problems particularly with regards to automobile limiting devices in the wake of increasing accidents on Nigerian roads”.
According to the VC, “this is an assignment that we considered very important and germane because lives are being lost daily on our roads due to overspeeding. The efforts of the Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC) in this regard are noteworthy and should attract attention of serious minded researchers and institutions”
“It has been tested. I had first- hand experience of it when it was fixed to a vehicle that I used. I can attest to its functionality”, he said, further promising to fund any research effort of any staff that will lead to the production of prototypes if he gets appropriate requests.
Earlier, the Director of Laboratory to Product (LABTOP) Centre, Prof Sulyman Age AbdulKareem, whose office is to build networks between university researchers and the industry, said, “immediately the Vice-Chancellor hinted me of this assignment, it occurred to me that it should be possible to process-control the speed at any set limit.
“We then assembled a team including an instrumentation technologist from Mechanical Engineering Department, Mr. Ganiyu Adeyemi Adedokun; an automobile expert also from that department, Mr. Oluwasanmi Adekunle Adewuyi; an embedded system programmer from Computer Engineering Department, Mr. Abdulrahman Olalekan Yusuf; a computer control specialist, Mr. Hafeez Owolabi Mahmud; Dr. J.O. Aweda from Mechanical Engineering; my deputies and my humble self. Dr. Aye Taiwo Ajiboye, who is the head of Department of Computer Engineering was also chosen to be the team leader”, and we came out with the speed limiter.
Meanwhile, in fulfillment of his promise that no deserving staff would be denied promotion, the vice-chancellor has approved the promotion of 583 staff, cutting across all cadres in the university.
Promotions to the professorial cadre are, however, still awaiting ratifications by the relevant authorities.
Those promoted include 112 academic staff, 127 registry staff, 245 professionals and technical staff and 99 junior staff.
It further stated that the 112 academic staff promoted comprised 36 Senior Lecturers, 41 Lecturer I and 35 Lecturer II.
