The just-conducted 28th convocation ceremony of Madibbo Adama University Yola (MAU) in Adamawa state did not only marked a watershed in the history of the university since its establishment in 1981, but also explored the impact of its outgoing vice chancellor. MAZU ABARI reports.
It was like yesterday when Prof Abdullahi lman Tukur, a professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences assumed office as the vice chancellor of Madibbo Adama University.
He joined from inception in 1986 as a graduate assistant but had served in various capacities until 2019 when he was appointed vice chancellor for a single tenure of five years.
With the passage of time and like anything that has a beginning must have an end, his tenure has elapsed but what would continue to speak for him as he exits is the impacts he made, the development he brought to bear in the university and the legacies he is leaving behind which would also serve as litmus test in his future endeavours.
It is therefore, not surprising that the 28th convocation which he superintended for the last time as VC is significant in so many ways.
Firstly, this is the second convocation to be conducted under his watch since the conversion of the university to a conventional status and the first with the highest number of graduates in one session totalling over 5,000 since the university was established.
For the outgoing VC, the convocation is a time for sober reflection, a time to bid farewell to the university which he so much cherished, where he spent the greatest part of his life serving in various capacities. It is also a time to return glory to God not only for accomplishing his dream to lead the university but also for realising some of his visions for the university.
How the journey started
Prof Tukur joined the services of the university formerly known as Federal University of Technology Yola (FUTY) as a graduate assistant in 1986 five years after the establishment of the university in 1981 in the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and rosed through the ranks after many years of hardwork, commitments and dedication to reached the top.
He was a member of the Senate and Council of the university for many years and held various leadership positions such as coordinator, Consultancy Service Unit, acting Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, substantive Dean of the faculty and subsequently as director Centre for Distance Learning before he emerged as VC. Outside the university, he served as executive secretary, Adamawa State Universal Basic Education Board and subsequently as secretary to the state government.
Rough beginning/turn-around
He took over the university at a time the university was fastly degenerating into extinction with low students enrolment which made it a shadow of itself, life support amidst worsening financial strangulation, low patronage, decayed infrastructures, among other challenges. These made the university’s survival almost impossible; despite these, he remained undeterred to making history by reseting the institution on the path of academic excellence and an attractive centre of learning and research.
He started by deploying creative ideas to keep the university afloat despite financial difficulties by adopting cost-cutting measures. He spread his tentacles into untapped sources of revenue by engaging in agricultural activities, particularly farming and livestock fattening, which became a game changer for the university. He went further to refurbish some of the University Guest Houses and leased them to some reputable organisations in the hospitality industry and also repositioned the university’s Centre for Equipments Manufacturing and Industrial Training (CEMIT) for optimal performance among other revenue-generating measures to keep the university in good financial stead.
Changing the narratives/ accomplishments
Having put the university on track, he swung into actions by activating the process of getting the university converted into a conventional status by reaching out to prominent sons and daughters of the state and major stakeholders on the imperative of the conversion. Gladly, the idea was supported by all; subsequently, a committe of eminent citizens led by Gov Umaru Fintiri was constituted and it met with former President Muhammadu Buhari on this request. The rest is now history as the university has graduated the second sets of students since conversion.
So many successes were recorded during his tenure as revealed by investigations carried out on the outgoing administraton especially in the areas of academic excellence, infrastructural drive, staff and students welfare, projects executions, collaborations and partnerships. For instance, the administration was able to restore all the lost programmes in the Department of Social and Management Sciences which were earlier halted in 2016 while new courses were also introduced with more courses securing accredited status.
The university also secured NUC and other relevant professional bodies’ approval for the commencement of Medical Sciences and allied courses with its first set of medical students while the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yola has since been converted to a teaching hospital to align with the university’s medical courses. These are beside roads networks within the campus, construction of a brand new 5.2bn Distance Learning Complex, 250 capacity female hostel, among other infrastructures.
Others can be seen in the areas of training and retraining of staff, comprehensive reviews of regulations governing conditions of service, timely implementation of staff promotions, entrenchment of academic integrity, accessing of intervention funds, collaborations and partnerships among many other achievements in the last five years.
Pre-convocation activities
Speaking during the press conference held on April 30 ahead of the convocation, Prof Tukur said, “We committed ourselves to adopting a governance, leadership and administrative style that would be enabling and value-adding through transparency and financial discipline, fairness and equity in dealing with all issues in the university. Therefore, we have been able to build and entrench a prudent financial system, rationing and deploying resources judiciously.”
He went further to give a vivid account of his steadwardship on the challenges he met and how he overcome them.
At the commissioning of the 5.2bn Distance Learning Complex commissioned by Gov Fintiri, Tukur said, “The establishment of MAU distance learning dated way back in 2002 and symbolises our commitments to meeting the diverse educational needs of our community, embracing the digital age and empowering individuals to unlock their full potentials through education. However, since its establishment, it remained in temporary block within a residential setting with a lot of constraint. The contract was awarded on August 26, 2021 at a combined initial cost of#403,938,075.87 and later reviewed to #526,739,429.40 as a result of long ASUU strike in 2022 that resulted in no cash flow into the system and subsequent escalation in prices of goods and services.”
Final convocation/farewell speech
Speaking in an emotion-laden voice that sounded more of a farewell speech, Prof Tukur started by bidding the university farewell when he said, “As I stand before you today, my heart is filled with a mixture of emotions. It is with high sense of pride, accomplishments and torch of sadness that I address you on this convocation day as your outgoing vice chancellor, with less than five weeks to the end of my tenure.
“Over the past five years, it has been an honour and privilege to lead this esteem institution. Together, we have achieved so much and I am proud of the progress we have made in advancing the mission and vision of our university.
“As I prepare to pass the torch to my successor, I have every faith that the incoming VC would continue to build on our achievements and steer this institution to even greater heights.
On the details of the convocation Prof Tukur said the university was graduating one set of candidates who completed their academic programmes in 2022/2023 academic session with few from the previous sessions who could not make it to the last convocation made up of 456 Diplomas and 4,282 in the Bachelors Degree category with 53 First Class; 1,143 Second Class Upper; 2,376 Second Class Lower; 682 Third Class and 28 Pass Degree.
He said there were 41 Post Graduate Diploma; 630 Masters and 134 Phd in various disciplines.