Education
Praises, attestations as tenure of Vice Chancellor, Saadu Zungur University Ends
Praises, attestations as tenure of Vice Chancellor, Saadu Zungur University Ends
By: Mohammed Kaka Misau
Professor Auwalu Uba, the Vice Chancellor of Sa’adu Zungur University Gadau, Bauchi state was appointed on 20th December 2017 after serving as the Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi from 2016 to 2017.
Born in Hardawa, Misau local government area of Bauchi, the young, Auwalu Uba attended Hardawa Government Primary school before he went to Government Secondary School Misau where he spent three years and then transferred to Government Scuence Secondary School Azare. He was among the pioneers of science secondary school Azare during the administration of late Tatari Ali.
He proceeded to School of Basic Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, got admitted after a year and graduated in 1987 with bachelor’s degree in microbiology.
After graduation, Prof. Uba did his compulsory one year NYSC at General Hospital Katsina in Katsina state, after which he got appointment with the University of Maiduguri teaching hospital where he started his career.
Prof. Uba took up appointment with the University of Maiduguri as a graduate assistant and rose to the rank of lecturer II. From there he transferred his services to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi where he rose through the ranks up to the rank of Professor in 2007.
Commenting about five years stewardship of the VC, Director, Center of Excellence for Research and Innovation in the University, Dr. Kabiru Ibrahim Karamba described him as an exemplary leader to the core, a Professor of microbiology per excellence.
According to him, the vice Chancellor is the architect of the new Bauchi state university who has established an unbreakable system with all strategic committees in place, among others.
On his part, Abubakar Baba Yakubu, a student with the department of Public Health, faculty of basic medical sciences of the University, and president of the students representative council said that the VC is referred to as the modern architect of Bauchi state university Gadau due to his developmental strides in the institution.
“For the whole of my life I have never seen a leader like him, he always consider us, the students as his biological children, we call him Baba (father) because of his kindness and support to everyone of us”, he said.
Also speaking, the Dean School of science of the University, described Professor Auwalu as one of the best VCs in the country, adding that so many positive changes have been recorded since his assumption of office about five years ago.
“He has recorded tremendous successes particularly in the area of accreditation, before now, this faculty of science, we were expecting so many courses to be accredited, luckily enough since he came on board, so many courses such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, microbiology, science Laboratory, technology, computer science and many other courses were fully accredited.
In an interview with our Corresspondent, the Vice Chancellor whose tenure is elapsing on 20th December, 2022 said just like any Vice Chancellor, the position carried many challenges.
“Just like every other Vice Chancellor in Nigeria, my tenure has been a challenging one because it’s a position that requires a lot of looking inward and outward”, he said.
The other one is the challenge of funding which is not peculiar with Sa’adu Zungur University Gadau alone and the reality is that the service charges we are collecting from the students are grossly inadequate and the govt cannot cater for everything, it is trying its best but the reality is that we are far being where we need to be in terms of funding.
And then, the environment also with this security challenges you have to be highly vigilant, we do face a lot of challenges. And like I said in the beginning of my conversation with you, bringing up a university or overseeing the affairs of a university for staff that are growing you have to grow with everybody, you have to teach almost everybody the job, but Alhamdulillah they are learning and we have gone far. I think these are some of the basic challenges that we faced.
According to him, “you know the problem with the Nigerian university is funding, funding has been a great challenge”, he said.
Professor Auwalu further explained that one of the challenges he encountered was heading the university that was just starting.
“I took over a university that was just about five years old, so the staff are growing with the university, they are learning the job so you have to be a coach for everybody, trying to bring everybody on board”, he added.
The Vice Chancellor while describing the scenario as a sweet experience, said it has made him learned a lot.
“Because of this position, I have learned a lot about people, I wouldn’t want to say it has not been difficult but Alhamdulillah, this is where we are, by God’s grace my tenure is coming to an end on 20th of December, 2022, but it has been a challenging period”, he confessed
Professor Auwalu who said his assumption was that the deanship of students’ affairs is the most difficult position in the university system not knowing that the VC manages everybody in the university and as such, has the most herculean task.
He said having a large students population living in a campus where there are limited accommodation space has been a challenge that most universities have to live with.
Professor Auwalu expressed delight that the management of the University under his leadership has been able to work harmoniously with the host communities where 80 percent of the students in Gadau lives.
“For Misau we don’t have problem but for Bauchi campus, we have zero campus. So we always have to intervene, this is one of the major challenges”, Professor Auwalu revealed.
He said understaffing has been the problem bedeviling almost every university in Nigeria, adding that over 90 percent of public universities are understaffed.
“Public universities are understaffed, particularly academic staff. That is why for every discipline, whether arts, humanity, science, medicine, engineering there is what we call, the students – teacher ratio and in almost every university, that has been exceeded and we are not different from them”, the University Don said.
He said that the the management of the Bauchi state owned University are striving hard to train many people to occupy those positions but are hindered by the limitation of funds.
“We can’t employ all the compliments of all the academic and non academic staff that we may need but we are managing, we compliment that shortage by what we call visiting lecturers that usually come from other universities and they teach and we pay them on monthly bases”, the Vice Chancellor revealed.
The VC who said that the university has been living harmoniously with its host communities, added that the management has been up and doing regarding its corporate social responsibility.
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The Vice Chancellor who recalled that the university had in 2019, carried out a rehabilitation work on a clinic in Yuli, added that, as a result, the village head of Yuli honored him with the traditional title of Dan-Madamin Yuli.
“In 2020, we purchased and distributed drugs to communities in Gadau, Misau, including the general hospital Misau, in Mada and in Yuli also, we assisted them with drugs and that they appreciated”, he said.
To further cement the relationship between the university and the host Communities, Prof Auwalu said, in most cases youth from the area are given preference in the area of employment as casual workers, most especially security.
“More importantly, when it’s time for admission, they bring their request and whoever that is qualified is given admission and this gesture has created peaceful living with our host communities, they are involved in everything that we do”, he noted.
The Vice Chancellor said he has in 2019, brought on board post graduate programs into the university where it run 19 out of 39 post graduate programs ranging from PGD, masters, Academic masters, professional masters and PhDs.
“As I am talking to you now, I just came back from a seminar presented by one of my PhD student, we have graduated so many masters students, we run 39 masters and PhD programs that cut across the faculties of arts, faculty of science, faculty of management sciences and the faculty of social sciences as well as faculty of education”, he added.
The VC who pointed out that the university is yet to start post graduate program on agriculture because it has not graduated the first set, equally said that the university has not started in the faculty of law but plans are under way.
“We have not started with pharmaceutical sciences because we have not graduated any set, we have not started in basic medical sciences for short of academic staff, so this is the run down of PG academic programs, we have 39 PG programs”, he said.
Professor Auwal who described the relationship between the management, staff and students of the University as very extremely cordial, said 98 percent of the Staff, students and the management are on the same page.
He said that the university has inculcated the idea of peaceful co-existence between the students most especially between different ethnic religious groups.
“Just last week I saw the NUBASS president wrote on his social media handle that he has visited the fellowship of christian students and they received them. I can tell you that the last Quranic recitation competition final that I attended in the university, the Muslim students invited their christian counterpart and they attended and all of us were there and we were very happy, so we live peacefully and cordially here”, the VC said.
Praises, attestations as tenure of Vice Chancellor, Saadu Zungur University Ends
Shettiman Fika establishes school for marriage education in Potiskum
By: Yahaya Wakili
Abdurazak Abdullahi Usman. Shettiman Malamai Fika Emirate Council. A proprietor of Shettiman Malamai School for Marriage Education (SMSME), Potiskum, Yobe State. Abdurazak explains the aims and objectives of the establishment of this great school.
Alhamdulillah, the aims and objectives of this school can’t be overcounted, but I will shortlist at least five to six major and basic aims and objectives that I can list right now. As I always reason why our community settlers are so rop, we are very immoral in our businesses, labors, and public activities; even in our religious aspects, we are not morally sound. So where the problem is, I used to ask myself all the time where the problem is since we belong to the same and single homes, all of us. So my answer is that from that particular place we are missing morality, so we have to go back and settle that particular house that we come from; maybe, Insha Allah, after settling and addressing such cases, we would reproduce a moral community or moral citizens in our localities.
“As I am saying, when you look at our people around the nation, you will see widows, divorcees, and the young child moving around without a standard of living; this brings them to the hardship of living, and this pushes many people into immorality, so they may become something that is not good. So we intend to address such cases in our localities, calling the attention of our religious leaders, traditional rulers, the government itself, and other individuals to come and join our hands together to address these cases. When we address it, we would minimize the number of divorces and the problem of orphans and all the problems around us, this case of banditry, kidnappers, Boko Harams, thieves, and all the problems that we are encountering in this nation when we address the case of matrimonial cases and domestic problems. Insha Allah, by Allah’s will, all the things will be solved.
“Adding that, you will see a woman coming to you seeking assistance. She will say even if you will use her, just settle her problem; she will give you herself. This is very unfortunate. Our Prophet, Muhammadu Sallallahu Wa Sallam, said that when the issue of “Zina” becomes an unavoidable thing in society, wait for the Allah discipline and the consequences, so we are in the consequences now. So we have to come back and sit down and think twice about why these problems are increasing. Not even to stop at how they are, they are increasing, so we have to at least stop the problem even if we can’t declare all the problems we have to stop them as they are because we didn’t know the new generation would happen to them since we see what is going on right now.
So this and many reasons push us to the establishment of this school, to call it Shettiman Malamai School for Marriage Education at this Yobe, and even in Borno, Taraba, and Adamawa, there is no school like this one; this is the first one to be established in this 2024 year. We hear about Bauchi and Gombe; there was something like this some years back, but it did not even function well. We think and we are seeking Allah’s assistance to make this school stable, standard, long-lasting, and helpful to the community, to our government, to our nation, and even to the globe at large, Insha Allah.
About the challenges, As you already know, nothing is going without money. Our challenge is money; we have no huge amount to render all the services we intend or we want to deliver to the society. We have the “Zauren Sulhu, which is a guidance and counseling committee that will sit every week, twice a week, to settle the issues of couples or the issues of divorces, widows, orphans, and all the problems of matrimonial homes, so you have to give them something to ease their coming to the office and bring them back to the house, and this will not be without money.
Abdurazak maintained that, and after all, the school that we are going to give teaching and entrepreneurship skills to the women because we have many problems with the marriage is money, when the husband can’t afford his responsibility, so the more challenge will come from his wife:Give me, give me, you have not, you have not, so the shetan or devil gets the access to come and make problems in your matrimonial living, so the money is our more basic challenge to this education, but with Allah’s help, everything is possible, because we see the hands of our government come into these initiatives.
Shettiman Fika establishes school for marriage education in Potiskum
BOSU VC PROMISES TO PLACE ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES ON AUTO GOVERNANCE
By: Bodunrin Kayode
The second Vice Chancellor (VC)of the Borno state university (BOSU) Professor Babagana Gutti has said that he would hit the ground running by placing all academic activity in the University on auto governance.
Prof Gutti said during a recent briefing with newsmen that it was his desire for the University community and the general public to be able to see what their wards are doing on campus at each time.
“We shall work with partners and the media to achieve this because the media is part of the University and it is my intention to ensure that this University is one of the best in this country by the time my tenure ends.
“We will use the auto governance system to monitor what the students or members of the University community are doing at every time. I will ensure that technology, research and learning go together
” I expect students to register real time for their programs from any part of the country or the world. The truth is that most Universities do not have such facilities which makes the work very easy to handle for both management and the community.
“We shall present minute by minute development in the campus for the whole world to see.” Said Gutti shortly after taking over the reigns of activities from the acting VC Prof Haruna Dikwa.
Earlier acting Vice Chancellor Professor Haruna Dlakawa said he was excited and grateful to the visitor Prof Babagana Zulum for giving him the opportunity to have served the University in an acting capacity on the exit of the pioneer VC Professor Kyari Sandabe.
He asked the University community to forgive him wherever he had offended any of them during the period of acting capacity as the Vice Chancellor.
Unveiling his report card, the second VC noted that the young University which started with just 30 programs have graduated it’s first set of graduates cutting across all the facilities..
“As at today, we have 835 staff employed directly by BOSU while 270 were absorbed from the Kashim Ibrahim College of Education. And because of the memorandum of understanding we have with the University of Maiduguri 193 staff are on visiting appointment.
” Also, the University now has 19 Professors on sabbaticals while the student population has risen up to 7,398 in the campus.
” I want to report to you that 26 physical development project has been executed so far on campus while some of them have been stalled temporarily and I will be calling on the second Vice chancellor to look into these projects.”
BOSU VC PROMISES TO PLACE ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES ON AUTO GOVERNANCE
Education
Nigerians Need to be Educated on Stressors, Coping Strategies Against Mental Health Disorders- Foundation
Nigerians Need to be Educated on Stressors, Coping Strategies Against Mental Health Disorders- Foundation
By: Michael Mike
An empowerment foundation, Webmark Empowerment Foundation has advocated the need to educate Nigerians on strategies to identify stressors and be conversant with with our to cope with them in order to significantly reduce the risk of mental health disorders in the country.
The foundation said there is an urgent need to raise an awareness about the critical impact of stressors on mental health and the proactive measures that can be taken to prevent mental health disorders across the country, during a virtual event it held on Friday in Abuja in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Lugbe FHA Estate, Connect Her Network Foundation, and Secure the Future International Initiative to commemorate the 2024 World Mental Health Day themed “Health at Work”.
The World Mental Health Day is celebrated annually on Oct. 10, to raise awareness about mental health around the world and to mobilise efforts to support those experiencing mental health issues.
Speaking at the event, a Mental Health rehabilitation professional, Dr. Saadatu Adamu, highlighted the psychological effects of stress and its potential to lead to mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.
She said: “Mental health is how we think, feel and act. Stress is a silent epidemic that can manifest in various ways, affecting not just individuals but an entire society.”
She added that: “By learning to identify stressors and implementing coping strategies, we can significantly reduce the risk of mental health disorders.”
Adamu also recommended some practical techniques for stress management, including mindfulness practices, physical exercise, and the importance of social support systems.
Also speaking, Webmark Empowerment Foundation trustee member, Dr. Maha Michael said that one in four Nigerians, approximately fifty million people, are suffering from some sort of mental illness according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Concerned about these statistics, he advised citizens to take their mental health more seriously especially with the pressure of prevailing economic challenges.
He also noted the growing concern over the mental health crisis exacerbated by various societal pressures, including economic instability, social isolation, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michael added that recognising and addressing these stressors is essential for fostering a healthier society.
On her part, founder Connect Her Network (known for empowering women and girls),
Ambassador Victoria Ojiah emphasised the unique challenges faced by marginalized groups.
She said: “Women and girls are particularly susceptible to stressors related to societal expectations and economic pressures. It is crucial to provide them with the tools and resources to manage their mental health effectively.”
Ojiah also highlighted the crucial role of mental health to overall wellbeing, saying that good health encompassed physical, mental, social, spiritual, and financial aspects; going beyond the mere absence of diseases or infirmity.
The Programme Coordinator of the Foundation, Mrs Alukwe Ugochinyere reiterated their commitment to breaking the stigma associated with mental health disorders by bringing these issue to the forefront, to encourage individuals to seek help when needed and to support one another in their mental health journeys.
Nigerians Need to be Educated on Stressors, Coping Strategies Against Mental Health Disorders- Foundation
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