FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OYE EKITI (FUOYE) PARTNERS AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY ADO-EKITI (ABUAD)

FUOYE VC Prof. Isaac Azuzu, with ABUAD Proprietor, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), included are the Registrar FUOYE Mr. Abiodun Adeyemo and some board of trustee     

Upon assumption of office in February 2013,the vice chancellor of the Federal University oye-Ekiti, Professor Isaac Asuzu, promptly made known his administration 's focus via a press interview to the Innovate crew-led by the magazine's editor.

In the said interview, Prof. Asuzu outlined the full accreditation of every programme of the university, the full development of the University's phase II project and the evolvement of sustainable

interface between FUOYE and some select institutions toward palpable growth of the young university.

FUOYE VC Prof. Isaac Azuzu and FUOYE Registrar Mr. Daniel Abiodun Adeyemo during their visit to ABUAD university 

It is against this backdrop that the Vice Chancellor led the principal Officers of FUOYE to a work visit with the Afe Babalola University Ado – Ekiti (ABUAD) on Friday May 24, 2013. The team took off from the Vice Chancellor's lodge in the institution's supercoaster bus arrived the ABUAD gates at 10.54 am and was cleared by the host institution’s security at 10, 57 after checks.

Upon arrival to the vast campus of the leading private university, the visiting team was led by Mr Layi Ajisafe-ABUAD Head of Media, to the 2nd floor of the college 1 complex where the institution's Council Chamber is located, where protocol was quickly exchanged between FUOYE Information Officer, Dr Ojiaku kalu, and his host counterpart.

With the introduction of hosts and guests done, the Vice Chancellor of ABUAD, Prof Sidi Osho, made her opening remarks in which she enthused at the anticipated benefits derivable from the emerging relationship between the two institutions stating that both ABUAD and FUOYE have much to gain in their cross fertilization of ideas one being private and so running strictly on business modules, and the other being a public institution, parading untold technical residue.

On his part, the president /Founder of ABUAD, are Afe Babalola, SAN, expressed joy over the FUOYE management's choice of his institution as a development partner, and which he observed dated back to the tenure of FUOYE’S pioneer Vice Chancellor, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, and therefore, thanked the Vice Chancellor Prof. Isaac Asuzu, for his decision to further grow the relationship through his visit.

He however, decried inadequate funding of higher education by the Nigeria's success we governments among other challenges, as a huge obstacle for the sector and therefore called on the present administration to ensure a paradigm shift toward mitigating the numerous pains of tertiary education managers-who in his words, his words, he daily pities for their plight.

To buttress his point, the ABUAD proprietor observed that the sum of N450bn budgeted for all the Federal Universities for 2013 can only be said to be paltry and so, laughable when compared with what neighbouring countries spend on their higher education.

In closing, Aare Afe Babalola enjoined FUOYE Principal Officers to cooperate with their Vice Chancellor to ensure astute management of limited funds to achieve administrative goals especially as their institution has been continuously blessed with positive target oriented managers since inception. The elder statesman also charged Prof. Asuzu to maintain participatory leadership while administering the affairs of the institution as this would help him to harvest every shade of opinion from his team members and indeed, help him succeed.

In his, response, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Asuzu, thanked the ABUAD founder for his advice which he admitted he could not afford to pay- were it to have come on consultancy basis, pledged the resolve of his administration to continually partner with ABUAD with a view to achieving clear leadership for FUOYE among Nigerian Federal Universities.

Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) speaking with the visitor 

The visit closed with a vote thanks from the ABUAD registrar, - after which the visiting team was taken for a guided tour of the private institution, and finally departed at 2.58pm.

Reports by Ojiku kalu.