Unilag has graduated over 50,000 in 5 years – VC

The University of Lagos, says the decisions taken and best practices put in place by its Senate have enabled it to graduate a total of 50, 785 students in the last five years.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Rahamon Bello said this at his valedictory news conference on Tuesday in Lagos.

Bello, who will officially disengage from the institution on November 11, took over the mantle of leadership of the university in 2012, following the sudden demise of the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe.

He noted that the figure accounted for about 25 per cent of the total number of graduates produced by the university in its 55 years of existence.

According to him, about half of them are postgraduate students, and the university is slowly becoming a postgraduate institution.

Bello, the 11th vice-chancellor of the university, added that his administration promoted academic excellence within the limited opportunities.

“As at today also, a total of 292 professors have been produced in the university since inception.

“104 of these were appointed in the last five years, accounting for 35.6 per cent of the total in the whole of the 55 years of the university.

“As at today too, there have been 354 inaugural lectures delivered in the 55 years of this university and 75 or 21.2 per cent were delivered during the five years of my administration,’’ he said.

Bello noted that efforts to internationalize the university’s programmes had been consistent adding that in the last five years.

He said the institution had signed over 40 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with sister universities globally.

The outgoing VC said that the most recent was the one signed with the University of West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica in May.

According to him, these agreements afford students and staff exchange and collaborative research opportunities, and so far, have been yielding results in form of awards and international recognition.

He said that in pursuit of the strategic vision to make the university globally competitive and to equip its products for national and international relevance, his administration undertook a comprehensive review of the institution’s curricula.

Bello noted that this was coming after a long time for what should ideally have been a regular five-year process.

The don noted that the new curricula, which had since been approved by the Senate, came into effect at the onset of the 2016/2017 academic session from the 100 level students.

Speaking further, he also said that his administration also put efforts in place to improve on the state of infrastructure in the university in line with best practices.

To this regard, he added that the university under his watch has ensured that the university is fully CCTV covered.

According to him, all the faculties and stand-alone units are also installing complimentary CCTV coverage within their facilities, including the hostels.

“Perhaps the ones that should excite us most is the provision of an 8.03MW gas-fire Independent Power Plant (IPP), with a training school, to be executed within the next 12 to 18 months.

“Bidding is currently on-going and with this, half of our usual headaches will be gone and we will be able to face our core business,’’ he said.

Bello, however, regretted that his administration was unable to see through the construction of a new Distance Learning Institute (DLI) building, as well as a new Faculty of Law and School of Postgraduate Studies buildings.

He urged the incoming Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, not to lose focus in ensuring best practices.

The don also enjoined him on the need to intensify efforts to accomplish on-going projects as well as sustain the drive and vision of the university. (NAN)