The Federal Government has lauded the management of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, (FUOYE), on its efforts at developing the infrastructure of the institution in order to guarantee a conducive learning environment for the students.
The commendation came from some members of the Governing Council of FUOYE, who represent the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education during an inspection exercise of the infrastructural development in the school by the governing council.
Mr. Sabo Inuwa, a representative of the Federal Government in FUOYE’s council, said: “I am satisfied with the level of development in FUOYE. I am very happy with the administration of Prof. Kayode Soremekun. Already, FUOYE has been ranked first among its peers in infrastructural development and academic performance. It is the best. So, ignore all the bad elements spreading bad rumours to spoil the school.”
Mr. Abdullahi Saliu Jibrin, a representative of the Ministry of Education, said: “It is an excellent performance that the Prof. Soremekun team has done in FUOYE. As for the criticism against the management, we have taken that positively. It is natural no matter how good you are, you will get criticism but we are not distracted.”
Speaking with newsmen after the inspection, FUOYE’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Soremekun, said: “You have seen the ultra-modern Faculty of Pharmacy building, the studio facility for our students of Mass Communication, the ultra-modern Faculty of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Management Sciences and academic building for the Faculty of Sciences and others, more importantly, are the roads we are building to make it easy to access these facilities by students. The roads will be completed by the end of February 2020.
“We are also here at the ultra-modern faculty of Agriculture which someone has described as dropping from Ohio, you know Ohio is the house of the universities of Agriculture in the U.S. This means that FUOYE is very serious in taking its place among its peers not only in Nigeria but also in the global community.
“What drives me is the culture of excellence. If you know about my background, you can call me an authentic part of Floria’s tradition, that tradition has been responsible for my motivation. Above all, God is involved because with Christ in the vessel, we have smiled at the storm.
“I want to tell you with a deep sense of sincerity that most of the facilities we have in FUOYE today were started and completed by our team. We met some abandoned projects such as the central administration building and the library, but all have been completed. But as Achebe said, it is still morning yet on creation day. We are hoping that before the end of the year, we will have more projects because, by the end of the current admission exercise, the students’ population would hit 20,000. That means we will need more facilities, but certainly, we are much better now than what we met four years ago,” he said.
The VC while advising FUOYE students, staff and the federal government, said: “Government should not relent on its efforts at funding FUOYE and other federal institutions because the bedrock of development is education. For the past few years that this institution has been in this part of Nigeria, there has been substantial change socially and economically.
“ Students are urged to make judicious use of the facilities because they are the future of the nation. The staff should cooperate with the authorities and be more patient. Rome was not built in a day so FUOYE would not be built in a day.’’