Felix Ikem, Nsukka

Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Benjamin Ozumba, has said he was happy leaving the university better than he met it.

Ozumba, whose five-year tenure ends on June 14 as the 14th vice chancellor said this, yesterday, in Nsukka, during a media briefing to flag-off his end of tenure activities at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium.

“Prior to 2014, the university was listed as dysfunctional, but today and for third consecutive years since 2016, UNN is ranked by Webometric as the number one university in Nigeria.

“Our enviable position as the best in research publications is till very evident and among the top 1500 universities in the world. The backlog of programmes and courses requiring accreditation were cleared under my tenure, most faculties and departments had no accreditation, but, today, the story is different, as the over 100 academic programmes running in this university are fully accredited,”he said.

Related News

The vice chancellor said under his stewardship, new faculties and institutions were established; the  Faculty  of Vocational and Technical Education and the Faculty of Basic Medical Science.

“New institutions established were Resources and Environmental Policy Research Centre, African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Power and Energy Development. Distance and e-learning programme was established and duly accredited by National Universities Commission,” he said.

On staff welfare, Ozumba said the staff enjoy regular and prompt payment of their salaries, adding that the backlog of promotions for stagnated staff were cleared within the past 5 years.

He listed other achievements of his administration to include; expanded external contacts for the university; improved standards in ethics utilisation orientation; infrastructural development; enhancement in research capabilities and re-equipping of the laboratories.