MAIDUGURI – The new Vice-Chancellor of University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Prof. Ibrahim Njodi, has assumed duties. Njodi takes over from Prof. Mala Daura, whose tenure expired on June 2, after a five-year term. The Governing Council of the institution had earlier announced the appointment of Njodi as new vice chancellor of the institution following approval by the Federal Government. The new vice chancellor would run the affairs of the institution for the next five years. In his speech at a handover event in Maiduguri on Tuesday, Daura, the outgone Vice Chancellor, said he assumed office on June 3, 2009 and that his tenure came to an end on June 2. “My tenure came to an end during insurgency in Borno and the university had been indirectly affected by the crisis,’’ he said. He said that apart from the loss of lives of both academic and non-academic members of staff, some students and teachers had also left the school. “This year, we recorded the worst number of candidates coming for admission in UNIMAID but it is our hope that when the crisis is over, more students would choose the university.’’ The outgone V-C also said that about 90 per cent of projects executed during his tenure were aimed at upgrading facilities in the institution. “However, the university has no outstanding bills to pay as every bill had been settled as I leave office.’’ Daura, however, expressed sadness that only N16.9 million had been released by the Federal Government to the institution as recurrent expenditure in the last year of his tenure and described this as very poor. He explained that the total allocation given to the institution was N323 million for execution of projects and appealed to the Federal Government to ensure release of its funds to enable the institution to achieve its set goals. Daura also disclosed that the institution’s over-head was N207 million but that only N17.2 million was released which was grossly inadequate. He said “we have about 35 sub-heads which include sport, medical, electricity and transportation, among others. “Throughout my five years in office as vice chancellor, our budget allocation was always below 50 per cent.’’ He, however, commended the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) for executing various projects in the institution to boost teaching and learning. He, therefore, urged the federal and state governments, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), oil companies and international donor agencies to assist in completing outstanding projects including roads in the university. In his remarks, Prof. Njodi, the incoming vice chancellor, commended members of staff of the institution for their support to the outgone vice chancellor and urged them to stand by the university at all times. Njodi assured the staff that he would do his best to move the university forward. He is an alumnus of UNIMAID, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical and Health Education in 1985 and an MSc in Health
Education, Njodi attended University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he bagged a Ph.D in Health Education in 2003. Prof. Njodi joined the services of UNIMAID in 1987 as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Physical and Health Education,
Faculty of Education and rose through the ranks to become a Professor in 2006.(NAN)
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