1.0 INTRODUCTION
I welcome you to this Extraordinary Meeting of Senate. Permit me to start this inaugural address by thanking every person who contributed in making this day come true.
I thank members of Senate for their contributions and efforts towards the realization of the mission and vision of FUTO. I doff my hat for your doggedness, objectivity and consistency in ensuring transparency in the process of the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor. I thank you for giving impetus to our academic endeavours.
To our Deans, Heads of Department and other academic support staff, I recognize and appreciate your work in the University. Additionally, I appreciate the cordial relationship you have with students and other members of staff under your supervision.
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I am overwhelmed with joy, but at the same time humbled that by the grace of God, I am appointed the 6th Substantive Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
2.0 MISSION OF THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES OF TECHNOLOGY
The Federal Universities of Technology were established in the 1980s as corporate bodies with a definite mission: to operate practical and result-oriented programmes and training geared towards transforming the nation’s economy from consumer-oriented to production-oriented, with a sound technological base.
This calls for, not merely understanding and using existing technology but advancing and harnessing technology for the development of the immediate environs of each university, in particular, and the nation, in general.
The above mission has been fully elaborated and carefully embodied in the Federal Universities of Technology Act. CAP 143 (Laws of the Federal Government of Nigeria) establishing the FUTs with the following objectives:
i) To encourage the advancement of learning and to hold out to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction, the opportunity of acquiring a higher education in technology;
ii) To develop and offer academic and professional programmes leading to the award of diplomas, first degrees, postgraduate research and higher degrees which emphasize planning, adaptive, technical, maintenance, developmental and productive skills in the engineering, scientific, agricultural, medical and allied professional disciplines with the aim of producing socially mature men and women with capacity not only to understand, use and adapt existing technology, but also improve on it and develop new ones; (in other words, producing technological manpower that exhibits initiative, self confidence, innovation and experience of the real problems of the world of work rather than the world of institution and that would be immediately productive in any venture or gainful employment);
iii) To act as agents and catalysts, through postgraduate training, research and innovation for the effective and economic utilization, exploitation and conservation of the country’s natural, economic and human resources;
iv) To offer to the general population, as a form of public service, the results of training and research and to foster the practical application of these results;
v) To establish the appropriate relationships with other institutions involved in training, research and development of technologies;
vi) To identify technological problems and needs of the society and find solutions to them within the context of overall national development;
vii) To provide and promote sound basic scientific training as a foundation for the development of technology and applied sciences, taking into account indigenous culture and the need to enhance national unity; and
viii) To undertake any other activities appropriate for universities of technology of the highest standards.
3.0 STRENGTHS
Amidst the changes which characterized the educational landscape in Nigeria, FUTO still enjoys the distinctive advantage of being the only Federal University of Technology East of the Niger.
In view of its proximity to multi-national organizations involved in oil exploration, FUTO also enjoys the distinctive advantage of being able to draw from a pool of qualified professionals within and outside the University.
FUTO has an opportunity to reinforce its role as an “incubator” for the production of practical-oriented technologists and also a veritable centre for experimentation.
FUTO is located in a serene and rich natural environment which is very apt for academic work.
FUTO has the opportunity to re-position itself and re-strategize in its mandate and focus its research and teaching on areas where it has core competencies and comparative advantage.
4.0 CHALLENGES AND THREATS
The challenges facing the University are numerous and they have militated against the actualization of the institutional goals and objectives. It is necessary to identify some of these problems with a view to addressing them. They are:
Inadequate infrastructure
Administration of examinations
Lateness to meetings
Examination malpractices
Non-release of examination results
Geometric growth in student population without corresponding increase in the number of academic staff
Geometric increase in the number of non-teaching staff
Inadequate supervision of academic staff
Inadequate laboratories, lecture halls, office accommodation
Inadequate equipment for teaching and research
General laisez faire attitude of staff and students, e.g. lateness to work by staff and failure of students to return to the University according to the University Calendar.
5.0 MY VISION FOR THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OWERRI (FUTO) IN THE 21ST CENTURY
To re-position FUTO to be a top-ranked-first class institution of excellence in technological knowledge production and dissemination, through teaching, research and service to humankind.
I am privileged to invite you to come with me on a journey to the future direction of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). This journey will in the next five years transform FUTO to a world- class University, in fulfillment of the vision of our founding fathers. In order to get to the future we must summon the courage to move forward against uncertainties and so many challenges. But we cannot get to the future without knowledge of the past. This great University has helped to shape and define the history of this state and the nation. FUTO is an institution with many milestones that mark over 30 years of education and service to our community and to our state; FUTO is an institution that has served proudly as a member of the nation’s public higher education family.
The vision of transforming the University into a world-class University would not be realized if it is business as usual. In order to achieve this transformation, we will envisage a FUTO with committed teaching and non-teaching staff, motivated students, a FUTO with state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms, a FUTO with functional sports complex (mini-stadium), a FUTO with green and grassy lawns, a FUTO that sees itself as family, a FUTO that adheres to rules and regulations, a FUTO that is abundant in equity, fairness and transparency, a FUTO with electricity, with internet access throughout the campus and fully computerized. FUTO must remain a meritocracy, open to people of talent from every part of the country, Africa and the rest of the world. We must dream big to move the University to enviable heights. Our dream must stretch beyond the borders of FUTO.
Today, top 20 universities such as Harvard (1), Oxford (2) Cambridge (3), Yale (4), Imperial College (5), Princeton (6), California Institute of Technology (7), University of Chicago (8), University College, London (9), MIT (10) and others command world-wide respect and admiration and set the standards for “world-class university”. The requisites for a world-class university include the capacity to attract scholars and scientists of the highest quality. This means first-class facilities, adequate funding to support research and competitive remuneration. No African university made the list in the first 200. Only one or two South African universities made the first 500.
The criteria for ranking of universities globally shall be addressed frontally. This looks stringent but to ensure competitiveness, FUTO needs re-engineering, re-organization and re-orientation. In order to realize the above vision, there is urgent need to provide the enabling environment for effective teaching, learning and research so that staff and students can interact and compete effectively with their counterparts at the national and international levels. In the latest rankings by NUC, FUTO did not make the list of first 20 universities in Nigeria. The University was also not listed among the universities with outstanding courses in agriculture, engineering or the sciences. A look at the criteria for ranking of universities in the world showed that certain indices are reckoned with. FUTO is not ranked among the African and/or world universities irrespective of our natural endowments and wealth. The criteria used by NUC are:
· percentage of programmes in the university with full accreditation status
· compliance with carrying capacity
· proportion of academic staff at professional level
· foreign content staff, proportion of the students who are foreign students
· proportion of staff with outstanding achievements and research output
· students completion rate
· Ph.D. graduate output
· University stability
I welcome you to this Extraordinary Meeting of Senate. Permit me to start this inaugural address by thanking every person who contributed in making this day come true.
I thank members of Senate for their contributions and efforts towards the realization of the mission and vision of FUTO. I doff my hat for your doggedness, objectivity and consistency in ensuring transparency in the process of the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor. I thank you for giving impetus to our academic endeavours.
To our Deans, Heads of Department and other academic support staff, I recognize and appreciate your work in the University. Additionally, I appreciate the cordial relationship you have with students and other members of staff under your supervision.
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I am overwhelmed with joy, but at the same time humbled that by the grace of God, I am appointed the 6th Substantive Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
2.0 MISSION OF THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES OF TECHNOLOGY
The Federal Universities of Technology were established in the 1980s as corporate bodies with a definite mission: to operate practical and result-oriented programmes and training geared towards transforming the nation’s economy from consumer-oriented to production-oriented, with a sound technological base.
This calls for, not merely understanding and using existing technology but advancing and harnessing technology for the development of the immediate environs of each university, in particular, and the nation, in general.
The above mission has been fully elaborated and carefully embodied in the Federal Universities of Technology Act. CAP 143 (Laws of the Federal Government of Nigeria) establishing the FUTs with the following objectives:
i) To encourage the advancement of learning and to hold out to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction, the opportunity of acquiring a higher education in technology;
ii) To develop and offer academic and professional programmes leading to the award of diplomas, first degrees, postgraduate research and higher degrees which emphasize planning, adaptive, technical, maintenance, developmental and productive skills in the engineering, scientific, agricultural, medical and allied professional disciplines with the aim of producing socially mature men and women with capacity not only to understand, use and adapt existing technology, but also improve on it and develop new ones; (in other words, producing technological manpower that exhibits initiative, self confidence, innovation and experience of the real problems of the world of work rather than the world of institution and that would be immediately productive in any venture or gainful employment);
iii) To act as agents and catalysts, through postgraduate training, research and innovation for the effective and economic utilization, exploitation and conservation of the country’s natural, economic and human resources;
iv) To offer to the general population, as a form of public service, the results of training and research and to foster the practical application of these results;
v) To establish the appropriate relationships with other institutions involved in training, research and development of technologies;
vi) To identify technological problems and needs of the society and find solutions to them within the context of overall national development;
vii) To provide and promote sound basic scientific training as a foundation for the development of technology and applied sciences, taking into account indigenous culture and the need to enhance national unity; and
viii) To undertake any other activities appropriate for universities of technology of the highest standards.
3.0 STRENGTHS
Amidst the changes which characterized the educational landscape in Nigeria, FUTO still enjoys the distinctive advantage of being the only Federal University of Technology East of the Niger.
In view of its proximity to multi-national organizations involved in oil exploration, FUTO also enjoys the distinctive advantage of being able to draw from a pool of qualified professionals within and outside the University.
FUTO has an opportunity to reinforce its role as an “incubator” for the production of practical-oriented technologists and also a veritable centre for experimentation.
FUTO is located in a serene and rich natural environment which is very apt for academic work.
FUTO has the opportunity to re-position itself and re-strategize in its mandate and focus its research and teaching on areas where it has core competencies and comparative advantage.
4.0 CHALLENGES AND THREATS
The challenges facing the University are numerous and they have militated against the actualization of the institutional goals and objectives. It is necessary to identify some of these problems with a view to addressing them. They are:
Inadequate infrastructure
Administration of examinations
Lateness to meetings
Examination malpractices
Non-release of examination results
Geometric growth in student population without corresponding increase in the number of academic staff
Geometric increase in the number of non-teaching staff
Inadequate supervision of academic staff
Inadequate laboratories, lecture halls, office accommodation
Inadequate equipment for teaching and research
General laisez faire attitude of staff and students, e.g. lateness to work by staff and failure of students to return to the University according to the University Calendar.
5.0 MY VISION FOR THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OWERRI (FUTO) IN THE 21ST CENTURY
To re-position FUTO to be a top-ranked-first class institution of excellence in technological knowledge production and dissemination, through teaching, research and service to humankind.
I am privileged to invite you to come with me on a journey to the future direction of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). This journey will in the next five years transform FUTO to a world- class University, in fulfillment of the vision of our founding fathers. In order to get to the future we must summon the courage to move forward against uncertainties and so many challenges. But we cannot get to the future without knowledge of the past. This great University has helped to shape and define the history of this state and the nation. FUTO is an institution with many milestones that mark over 30 years of education and service to our community and to our state; FUTO is an institution that has served proudly as a member of the nation’s public higher education family.
The vision of transforming the University into a world-class University would not be realized if it is business as usual. In order to achieve this transformation, we will envisage a FUTO with committed teaching and non-teaching staff, motivated students, a FUTO with state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms, a FUTO with functional sports complex (mini-stadium), a FUTO with green and grassy lawns, a FUTO that sees itself as family, a FUTO that adheres to rules and regulations, a FUTO that is abundant in equity, fairness and transparency, a FUTO with electricity, with internet access throughout the campus and fully computerized. FUTO must remain a meritocracy, open to people of talent from every part of the country, Africa and the rest of the world. We must dream big to move the University to enviable heights. Our dream must stretch beyond the borders of FUTO.
Today, top 20 universities such as Harvard (1), Oxford (2) Cambridge (3), Yale (4), Imperial College (5), Princeton (6), California Institute of Technology (7), University of Chicago (8), University College, London (9), MIT (10) and others command world-wide respect and admiration and set the standards for “world-class university”. The requisites for a world-class university include the capacity to attract scholars and scientists of the highest quality. This means first-class facilities, adequate funding to support research and competitive remuneration. No African university made the list in the first 200. Only one or two South African universities made the first 500.
The criteria for ranking of universities globally shall be addressed frontally. This looks stringent but to ensure competitiveness, FUTO needs re-engineering, re-organization and re-orientation. In order to realize the above vision, there is urgent need to provide the enabling environment for effective teaching, learning and research so that staff and students can interact and compete effectively with their counterparts at the national and international levels. In the latest rankings by NUC, FUTO did not make the list of first 20 universities in Nigeria. The University was also not listed among the universities with outstanding courses in agriculture, engineering or the sciences. A look at the criteria for ranking of universities in the world showed that certain indices are reckoned with. FUTO is not ranked among the African and/or world universities irrespective of our natural endowments and wealth. The criteria used by NUC are:
· percentage of programmes in the university with full accreditation status
· compliance with carrying capacity
· proportion of academic staff at professional level
· foreign content staff, proportion of the students who are foreign students
· proportion of staff with outstanding achievements and research output
· students completion rate
· Ph.D. graduate output
· University stability
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