A University Ahead of its Peers
By Philip Oladunjoye
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Kogi State University shows great determination to make a difference and stay ahead of its contemporaries in less than five years of its existence
Simon Koma Okwute, a professor of chemistry and vice-chancellor, Kogi State University, KSU, is not a man that will surrender, even in the face of daunting problems. That is why his tenure as vice-chancellor has been a tremendous success.
As the first vice-chancellor of the university, Okwute laid the first administrative structure which has seen the university marching towards the achievement of its goals. His mission was to ensure that the university attains the number one position among its contemporaries. And to a large extent, that goal has been achieved, given the level of infrastructural development and its current records of academic excellence attained so far.
The school was practically a forest when it was established five years ago. Today it has become a beehive of activities with magnificent well structured buildings constructed on the expanse of land that constitute the school environment.
The roads within the precinct of the institution are well paved and there are boreholes constructed to cater for the water needs of both the staff and the students. The university does not enjoy municipal power supply. So it decided to invest heavily on a number of power generating plants to cater for the electricity power needs of the institution. For instance, the institution has a 500KVA transformer, two 300KVA, one 100 KVA that services its guest house, a 50KVA servicing the vice-chancellor lodge and two other smaller power generating sets servicing the boreholes. It also has two 60KVAs, one servicing the computer centre and the other servicing the central administration. Okwute's leadership style has been the major inspiration that paved the way for these achievements.
When he was appointed vice-chancellor of the newly created university on February 1, 2000, he wasted no time brooding over lack of infrastuctural facilities in the school. He, with the 70 pioneer staff of the institution had to sleep in the classrooms for more than a week before alternative accommodation could be provided for them. He condescended to using kerosene powered stove to cook his meals for lack of electric cooker. He did not initially enjoy the use of refrigerating set. With basically no office of his own, he had to use a small room in the academic block with a clerical staff table for almost six to seven months. But he was undeterred. He was determined to nurture the university from its cradle to a glorious adulthood that would be the envy of all.
This he set to achieve when on assumption of office, he set up a senate committee and a governing council to serve as the think-tank that would formulate academic policies for the university. This move paid off tremendously as many far-reaching decisions were taken to put the university in its present path to glory.
The university is primarily being funded by the Kogi State government. But the school authority has also found additional ways of generating revenue internally. The university engaged in educational consultancy services such as running diploma programmes at both the lower and post graduate levels. It also engages in organising workshops and conferences. The authority also delved into the binding of books and project materials to generate fund. Other areas the university generates fund include its bookshop and the cyber café it opened in July last year. The cyber café would be linked to the electronic unit of the library where students can acces any library anywhere in the world.
In terms of academic performance, the school authority can beat its chest that the performance of its students are high based on reports from various establishments where students were posted for industrial training experience. The university has only graduated two sets of students. The first have just completed their National Youth Service Corp Scheme while the second are about to join the scheme. The authorities of the institution has continued to monitor the performances of its students in their various places of work.
From the initial take-off student population of 751, the school now admits over 3000 students annually, and has more than 10,000 students now. The staff strength has grown to more than 600 from the 71 that started at inception.
Okwute disclosed that the school authority has decided to establish a post graduate school to train student for PhD degrees. This is part of efforts to meet the academic staff requirement of the school. The university is also extending its external linkages to universities in the United States of America, U.S.A.
For instance, arrangements were at the concluding stage with Professor Oyibo of the Institute of Technology, U.S.A to establish the off-beat of the institute in the university. The authority has also signed a memorandum of understanding, MOU, with the University of Howard, U.S. for external linkages.
With the series of academic and infrastructural developments that has put the university at a lofty height, Okwute believes that the university has achieved a lot within a short period of time. "We have invested a lot in getting experienced hands through part time from other universities and also through visiting lecturers who are on sabbatical from other universities. So, in a way, when we look back, we have come a long way in a relatively short time. And when you look at our facilities in terms of buildings and campus size, we are quite ahead of many universities that started before us or are within the same age bracket with us. We are quite ahead."
Accor-ding to the vice-chancellor, many indigenes of the state from within and outside the state have continued to bring their wards to the university, knowing fully that the university has been imparting both good moral discipline and sound academic performance on its students. For instance, the menace of cultism which has been the bane of many tertiary institutions in the country was not allowed to thrive at the institution. When it reared its head, it was decisively dealt with. Thirty-one students found culpable of anti-social behaviour were expelled from the school. It, however, took the intervention of the state government and the state security service to re-absorb the students with their parents signing undertakings on their behalf to be of good behaviour. Some of the culpable students, have graduated, but their trials and subsequent suspension was enough to serve as deterrent to others.
In view of the landmark achievements at the university, the authority deemed it fit to celebrate. Hence, on March 11 and 12, the authority of the university will roll out the drums to celebrate the first convocation ceremony of the school.
Kogi State University, Anyigba, was established through a bill signed into law by the then Governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu on Thursday, 18th November 1999.
The institution's foundation stone was laid on November 30, 1999 by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the president and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
The establishment of the university was an expression of the collective determination of the people of Kogi State to take their destiny in their own hands and rise to the global challenges of modern development.
The university was therefore conceived as a child of necessity primarily to enhance the accessibility of university education to qualified indigenes of Kogi State who were often denied admission into universities in the country where Kogi State was even supposed to be a catchment area.
Kogi State University was designed to be a centre of academic excellence with the ultimate goal of encoura-ging the advance-ment of learning; and stimulating accelerated development of Kogi State through strategic research activities and managerial development.
The university, located at Anyigba, the heartland of Kogi State, occupies a landmass of over 300 hectares and enjoys a very pleasant and healthy climate with a beautiful weather that is mild in nature. The town is accessible by road from all parts of the country and there is regular road transportation between the town and all parts of Kogi State and Nigeria at large.
The university, no doubt, has environment, which is highly suitable for academic work.
The university commenced academic activities in April, 2000 with the admission and registration of 751 pioneer students, spread over six faculties, namely: Agriculture, Arts and Humanities, Law, Management Sciences, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. It currently has 32 academic programmes, spread over the six faculties.
On August 1, 2001, the university witnessed a dramatic change of name when Abubakar Audu, the then governor signed into law the university Amendment Bill re-naming Kogi State University as Prince Abubakar Audu University.
But the change of name was short-lived. In 2003, the name was reverted back to its original name of Kogi State University through a bill passed by the Kogi State House of Assembly. This was in response to the yearnings of the people of the state.
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