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Chinedu Felix Mafiana,a Professor of Zoology and the highest ranking official at the National Universities Commission,(NUC) has officially assumed position as the Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission.
In an official handover ceremony on Monday in Abuja ,Julius Okojie,the former Executive Secretary of the Commission who completed his two terms of 10 years told newsmen that the Nigerian University system has come of age ,noting further that he had worked very hard in his tenure to address issues of access and quality in Nigeria’s University system.
Advising the acting Executive Secretary, Okojie said,”In my tenure,we were determined to do the right thing. There are some programmes that we suspended and people took us the National Assembly,but we were courageous because were determined to do the right thing. You have to be courageous and do the right thing always”
While explaining further some of the steps he took in his tenure, he said,”In our regulatory functions, we have put in place in for our post-graduates a structured programme. We also reviewed curriculums. The University system was better now than when we came into place. We now have 10 centres of excellence selected from Nigeria Universities.
Explaining further some of his key achievements,Okojie said,”Nigeria Universities are better linked up now through Nigeria Education Research Network,(Ngren),with their counterparts in other parts of the world. “We are deepening on that so that we could also have our diasporans teach from their base and upgrade the standards of our University education for global competitiveness”
We also had our 10 Universities selected as centre for excellence in Africa,and attracting $7 million in order to advance its research and development activities in Science,Engineering,and Agriculture with many African countries already sending their students to our Universities”
While applauding the supports he got from the NUC staff and the government,Okojie said,”Technically I had support from the directors and key officials in the commission. Politically I had support from the government,and I remain ever grateful for all the support and the successes we had achieved working together”
In his submission, Ibrahim Danja,the Deputy Executive Secretary 1 said during the former Executive secretary’s tenure,Nigerian Federal Universities rose from 26 in 2006 to 40 Presently .Also,state Universities rose from 27 to 42 presently. Furthermore,Private Universities lso rose from 24 to 61 Private Universities.
Meanwhile,the acting executive secretary said he would work harder to continue with the great legacies of the former Executive Secretary.
We will continue to regulate with courage. We have communicated stakeholders in the education system and we would continue to work with them in our regulatory duties”
