As Abdul Rahman clocks one year in office, he commissions projects, signs MoU with NTA and FVPMADON

On Friday, February 11, 2022, Professor Shehu Abdul Rahman, the third Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Lafia (FULafia), clocked a year in office.

On that memorable day, rather than wine and dine with family, friends and associates, Abdul Rahman chose to commission some projects his administration spent a year trying to put them in place.

In his brief address to members of the University Management team, deans, directors and leaders of the Students Representative Council to mark the commencement of activities lined up for that day, the vice-chancellor stated his readiness to put the University on the path of academic excellence, in line with the University’s vision of attaining a world-class status.

He said that he was happy that the three core values of the University, namely, Integrity, Innovation and Excellence, were part of the five guiding principles which he holds dearly in life.

He said: “I always advocate integrity, innovation, excellence, accountability and transparency as my guiding principles. These values guided me through my day-to-day administration of the institution.”

He stressed the importance of the committee system which his administration has put in place, saying that development took away pressure from his shoulder and put part of the burden of administering the University on the doorstep of everyone.

He said: “University is a community of scholars where everybody is learning,” pointing out that “it is important to run an inclusive administration in order to succeed.”

Abdul Rahman said that “when I was in Keffi, I chaired about 20 committees and served as a member to about 30 committees”, pointing out that “I used committees’ recommendations to designate responsibilities, irrespective of tribe, religion or ethnicity of an individual, i only rely on what you can do and not on who you are.”

Abdul Rahman thanked the Federal Government, Federal Ministry of Education, National Universities Commission (NUC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), donor agencies, partners, Nasarawa State Government, stakeholders, FULafia Governing Council, Senate and the entire members of the University community for their support and contributions to his administration’s achievements.

Speaking separately, earlier, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Idris Amali, Prof. Josephine Odey, Prof. Okpeh Okpeh and Prof Samaila Dakyes, praised the vice-chancellor for his pragmatic and purposeful leadership style, urging him to continued in that spirit.

They assured him of their continued support and encouragement at all times.

The event also witnessed the the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the University and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Film and Video Producers, Marketers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (FVPMADON).

It is expected that the agreements signed would signal healthy collaboration for the parties involved, in line with their values and need for mutual benefits.

The vice-chancellor also used the occasion to unveil three publications, namely, special edition of the FULafia Bulletin, produced by the Information and Public Relations Unit of the University, which highlighted some of the outstanding achievements of the vice-chancellor, the FULafia Service Charter, produced by the SERVICOM Directorate, and FULafia 2022 Annual Report, produced by the Academic Planning Directorate.

The high point of the one year ceremonies was the commissioning of the following projects: Fire Service Station, 2.1- kilometre Road, FULafia Academy, and FULafia Printing Press, all at the Permanent Site Campus of the University.

Just before the commissionings, however, the leaders of the Students Representative Council presented an award to the vice-chancellor in appreciation of his performance and achievements in the University.