The National Universities Commission (NUC) has cautioned Nigerian universities against failing to adhere strictly to extant regulations in order to continually entrench quality in all aspects of university education and ensure the production of graduates who are relevant to national needs and global development.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, who announced the caution during the 10th convocation ceremony of Gregory University Uturu (GUU), Abia State, for 409 graduands at the weekend, said that NUC remains committed to strengthening the Nigerian university system and supporting the universities, including GUU, in their pursuit of excellence.
Represented by Mr Chukwuemeka Offor, the NUC Executive Secretary said that, in its efforts to reposition the Nigerian University System for excellence and global competitiveness, it embarked on some laudable projects that included curriculum and minimum academic re-engineering from Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards to Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards, with emphasis on the acquisition of 21st-century employability skills as a top priority.
The founder of the university, Professor Gregory Ibe, urged the graduates to use the knowledge they acquired to confront multiple challenges, including food insufficiency, economic instability, and insecurity, “the way David successfully did to Goliath.”
While the chancellor, Mr Okechukwu Gregory Ibe, renewed GUU’s commitment to raising leaders for Africa, the Pro-Chancellor, Professor Augustine Uwakwe, told the 409 graduating scholars with certificate, first, master’s, and doctorate degrees to note that education is more than just a means to a career. “It is the key to unlocking opportunities, questioning, imagining a better world, and making meaningful contributions.”
In her speech, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Cele Njoku, stated that the 13-year-old GUU has witnessed appreciable growth in its academic profile and that all its current academic programmes were duly accredited.
She added that its Institute of Foreign Languages offers certificate and diploma programmes in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, and Chinese that are distinct from other degree programmes, but that Certificates 1 and 2 programmes are compulsory for all 200-level scholars of GUU.
The convocation event earned the university the sum of N50 million from two of the three persons conferred with honorary doctorate degrees, besides an expected unstated amount or contributions in kind.
The honorary doctorate beneficiaries were immediate past Enugu State Governor Dr Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Chairman of the Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers Dr Linus Nto Mba, and Imo State-based businessman and industrialist Dr Okenze Sylvester Obinna.
Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti, represented by the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Professor Uche Eme Uche, commended GUU’s sustained efforts to progress, promising to assist in addressing its challenges in line with non-discrimination on the basis of residents’ status in the state.
