There was change of baton at the Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTMinna) recently which saw Professor Abdullahi Bala, the deputy vice chancellor administration, assuming office as vice chancellor of the institution.
The new V-C is expected to hold fort for a single term of five years with effect from December 3, 2017. He is the 7th V-C of the university since its establishment 35 years ago (February 1, 1983).
In his speech during his inauguration on December 1, the new vice chancellor acknowledged that the task of building a world class university was a herculean one.
To its credit, FUTMinna has succeeded in designing and fabricating various items of national importance. These include solar air heater, motor crankshaft, gearing system for crane hoist drives, rice de-stoning machine, maize sheller, multi-purpose grinder, irrigation models, and poultry feeder amongst others.
It’s immediate past vice chancellor, Prof. Musbau Akanji, observed at an event shortly before he finally bowed out that the university has also grown to become a central actor in scientific and technological change in Nigeria through training and manpower development.
He also noted that in its desire to be seen to be responsive to problems and challenges that are faced by the society, the institution has incorporated the third mission, by directly contributing to the economic development of the country.
To achieve this goal, he said, it has established different centres and directorates, such as the Directorate of Research and Development (DRID), Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CGEB), Centre for Open Distance and e-Learning (CODeL), Centre for Disaster Risk Management and Development Studies (CDRM & DS), Centre for Human Settlement and Urban Development (CHSUD), West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapter Land Use (WASCAL) among others with specific mandates.
This he said has enabled the University to evolve beyond the traditional role of teaching and researching by incorporating an entrepreneurial component of education that helps to create a mutually beneficial relationship between the world of science and the business world.
The inter-connection between the university’s research efforts and the society was rewarded in 2015 when one of the seismic monitoring stations in the country was commissioned in the University. It is part of the Federal Government efforts toward reducing hazards associated with natural disasters, such as flood, earthquakes, landslides and erosion.
The establishment of the Centre is part of the global efforts to reduce the risks of natural and man-induced disasters that are threatening the sustenance of development efforts.
One of its major achievements of recent was the commissioning of the seismic monitoring stations in the country as part of its research efforts in 2015. The effort has been applauded as part of the Federal Government’s initiative toward mitigating the hazards associated with natural disasters, such as flood, earthquakes, landslides and erosion.
The seismic station is located at the Centre for Disaster Risk Management and Development Studies (CDRMS & DS); a training, research and development unit which was established in June 2009, following a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the University.
In 2014 the centre, won a National Emergency Management (NEMA) consultancy contract and also secured a partnership deal with the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy of Tulane University, USA. The initiative, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank, was to conduct training and workshop on disaster resilience.
FUTMinna is also reputed as the first university in Nigeria to produce the first carbon nanoparticles. The production of carbon nanoparticles would go a long way in assisting drugs delivery, fuel cell technology, solar energy development, new high performance material, improved molecular sieve as well as various bio-medical genetics and electronic advancement.
Research conducted by the Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology was the first by any institution in the country.
Stakeholders have identified funding as perhaps, the greatest bane in the education sector. This has led to rampant crisis in the educational system. In order to overcome these challenges FUT Minna has turned innovations, commercialisation and entrepreneurial practices.
Professor Akanji believed that the institution has the capacity to enhance the nation’s quest for major technological breakthroughs if its funding is adequate. Professor Abdullahi had also identified the issue of funding as a major challenge in his inaugural speech.
As a result, there are two sources of funding available to the institution: Government sources and non-governmental sources. The University, for instance, cultivates mutually beneficial relationships with private organisations, international organisations and through internal arrangements such as running commercial activities in order to boost its internally generated revenues.
One of the challenges before the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdullahi Bala therefore, is how to expand and consolidate on the existing revenue base of the university.
The institution had in the past come up with innovations aimed at meeting its funding needs through the introduction of certain commercialisation and entrepreneurial practices.
Also, proceeds from school activities such as commercial activities, scientific breakthroughs, consultancy, part-time programmes, staff exchange programmes, loans, scholarship, and donations from alumni and other philanthropists are part of its internal revenue drive.
However, many believe that the revenue generated from these efforts cannot be compared to what the university requires to sustain its lofty dream of not only being the best in Nigeria but the pride of Africa.
A quick tour round the campus revealed that the university has enjoyed massive infrastructural interventions from government through TETFund. Key among these is an Academic Publishing Centre which is owned by TETFund but located on the university campus. This Centre services the whole of North Central Zone of the federation.
Also through TETFund interventions, the academic facilities of the institution have been upgraded. The School of Agriculture Phase Two, Engineering workshop, examination centres of the university are all evidence of TETFund intervention. These are apart from equipment, instrument in various laboratories, digitalization of the university library and purchase of e-resources.
“The combination of Professor ‘Femi Odekunle, the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council and Professor Abdullahi Bala, the newly appointed vice-chancellor, can best be described as providential. FUT Minna is indeed in safe hands,” he noted. And having risen through the ranks within the last 27 years to become its vice chancellor, many are optimistic that Prof Abdullahi has garnered enough experience to transform the institution to one of the greatest citadels of learning in the country.
The new vice chancellor has promised to “embrace all and sundry with no distinction to ethnicity, religion, gender or political affiliation.”
He also pledged to sustain the tremendous growth and development especially in the last one and half decades, in the areas of staff and student population totaling 25,000 and now ranked 5th among the specialized universities in Nigeria and 45th out of 4,245 universities in Africa, through many innovations.
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