A university’s drive towards academic excellence

The Federal University Wukari in Taraba State is one of the fastest growing, new universities established by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. In this piece, ANDREW OJIH who visited the university recently takes a look at the gains of the institution under the leadership of Professor Abubakar Kundiri.
No doubt, when the name of Professor A M Kundiri was flashed as the new vice chancellor of Federal University Wukari, Taraba state in March 2016, little did the university and host communities know that a serial achiever was appointed to pilot the affairs of that new institution. The little they heard about him gave them a ray of hope that he would build on what his predecessor did. Probably, the only thing they knew about him was that he started his academic career at the University of Maiduguri as a graduate assistant where he rose through the ranks to become a professor at a relatively young age. In the course of his progression, he held several administrative positions and  became the longest serving dean of student affairs in the university. He moved to the Federal University Gombe when it was established and became the pioneer dean of student affairs. As he was completing his tenure, he was appointed as the next vice chancellor for the university by the governing council after passing the rigorous interview. He was waiting for his letter when President Muhammadu Buhari announced his appointment against all expectations. 


The secret
As soon as he took over the mantle of leadership, he gave a marching orders to graduate assistants to go for further studies and other ranks that were yet to bag their Doctorate Degrees. Investigation shows that the extent of staff development programmes put in place in the university is unprecedented.For instance, the only thing one needs in order to enjoy training is your employment letter. As a result of this staff development approach, the university can boast of many Masters Degree holders as well as holders of Doctoral Degrees. This is also extended to non-teaching staff in the university. It is as result of this that many non-teaching staff with excellent results and are interested in the area of academics have been converted to academic staff.According to Ajayi Badmus, a staff member of the university, “At the time Professor Kundiri came, we had barely up to eight professors as no one had been promoted appropriately. At the moment, there are many professors and other ranks as a result of harvests of promotions engendered by Professor A.M. Kundiri when he came.”You don’t enjoy promotion if you are not qualified. He believes that there is no reason to deny any hardworking qualified staff his or her promotion on some flimsy grounds. Many staff of the university can attest to these facts. Very few members of staff, if any, can say they have not enjoyed any of Professor A.M. Kundiri’s goodies,” he said.Professor Kundiri, on resumption met three faculties, but he would be leaving about seven behind. He inherited Faculties of Agriculture and Life Science, Humanities, Management and Social Sciences and Pure and Applied Sciences. He is now bequeathing Faculties of Education, Engineering, Law and Medicine. This is a wonderful feat within four years! The staff primary and secondary schools have been transformed with some state of the arts facilities. The university is located about 200 kilometres from Jalingo, the state capital, and was established in 2011 by former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.Sitting on a land mass area of 199.25 hectares, the university at take-off acquired the facilities of the Wukari campus of Taraba State Polytechnic.


Testimonies
Isa Abubakar, a 300-level student in the Department of Chemistry, told Blueprint that the smooth running of academic programmes in the university has attracted students’ population into the school. He said, “In terms of infrastructure, the vice chancellor has turned the university into a construction site as massive infrastructural projects are currently ongoing in the school. We are lucky to have someone like him at the helms of affairs. If we had him from the beginning to lay the foundation, this university would have been far from where it is currently,” she said.Kundiri on assumption of office came out with a Medium-Term Strategic Plan to guide in terms of growth in the university. And this led to the full accreditation of all 27 undergraduate programmes of the institution.In confirmation, Blueprint discovered after a visit to the campus that he has since completed all abandoned projects including faculty buildings, lecture theatres, classrooms, halls, cafeterias, medical centre, students’ hostels, perimeter fencing, entrepreneurial centre, among others. Other projects include the construction of senior academic staff housing scheme to attract quality academic staff; construction of principal officers’ housing units, construction of world-class central laboratory, development of security infrastructure to ensure safety of people and property in the university and its immediate environment.The university has also provided industrial boreholes and reticulation, solar street lighting, waste management system and construction of over 10 kilometres of roads within the campus. Recently, the projects were commissioned by the leadership of the National Universities Commission (NUC).Some of the commissioned projects include buildings for all faculties, academic staff offices, staff quarters, students hostels, university library, information and communication centre, laboratories, convocation square, sports facilities, municipal facilities such as water, roads, electricals and other installations among many others.A resident, Ismail Agyu, said from 2016 till date, the university under Prof Kundiri has witnessed tremendous progress.He expressed satisfaction that Kundiri has make​ a good turn-around in the history of the university, and that makes it a first class institution. He maintained that the achievements of the vice chancellor has​ not only taken the university to the international​ map but also earned it national and international recognitions.”In the past, nobody knew nor heard about Federal University Wukari, but with the coming of Kundiri,  the university today is a household name. Our women and children buy and sell within the university environment and this has reduce criminalities, “he noted. Another resident of Wukari, Paul Bawuno said Kundiri from 2016 till date has completed 30 projects worth billions of naira.”Within the period of his first tenure that ends in February 2021, Prof Kundiri has transformed this university such that today we are proud of him.”When he took over the institution in 2016, the university was lagging behind in infrastructure as well as accreditation of course. “Today, my son who is a student of the university told me that over 27 courses have been accredited in the institution,” he said. According him, Kundiri deserves to be giving an award of the best performing vice chancellor in Nigeria.The Aku Uka of Wukari and the Wukari local government chairman have at different foral eulogised Professor Kundiri for his pragmatic achievements.

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