NUC Appoints FUNAAB To Supervise Two New Universities
The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) is to mentor two newly-approved private universities. A memo was issued by the NUC to this effect and recieved by the FUNAAB VC.
The institutions are: Mountain Top University (MTU) and Chrisland University, both in Ogun State.
Its Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olusola Oyewole, spoke while receiving officers of the institutions, who visited him to seek partnership on staff development, knowledge exchange, facilities sharing and other areas that would promote teaching, learning and research in line with the National Universities Commission’s (NUC’s) standards.
Receiving the team from the MTU, owned by the Mountain of Fire and Ministries (MFM), Oyewole said he was delighted when FUNAAB received a memo from the NUC, urging the institution to mentor MTU for five years.
With a staff of 562 (academic) and 1,421 (non-teaching), a student population of 15,000 (undergraduate) and 1,500 (postgraduate) across 10 colleges and a postgraduate school, as well as 27 years’experience as a university, Oyewole said FUNAAB has the experience to mentor the institutions.
The vice chancellor noted that the university has unique programmes that would be of interest to MTU, such as the Community-Based Farming Scheme (COBFAS), Graduate Farming Employment Scheme (GRADFES) and the commercial Tree-Crop Plantation Programme.
He, however, charged the MTU team to prepare a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would include their expectations, as well as define the extent of the collaboration between both institutions.
Responding, MTU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Elijah Ayolabi, said the partnership was divinely designed.
“When the NUC told us that FUNAAB would be our mentor, I think God must have been working behind the scene.
“University of Lagos is the closest to us; we were not given to them but we were sent here and only to discover that, it is like sending us home, because we found out that we have our own, someone who understands our language, the mission and vision of the proprietor of the university, who would be able to support us, both physically and spiritually”, he said.
Chairman, Board of Trustees of MTU, Prof Akintunde Obilade, also agreed that the choice of FUNAAB as mentor was not by accident.
The delegation was later taken on a tour of some places, such as the Directorate of University Farms (DUFARMS), Industrial Park Unit and the Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSERAR).
Similarly, while welcoming the Chrisland delegation during their visit, Prof Oyewole said FUNAAB was ready to mentor the institution and others that required such intervention.
A member of the council of the Chrisland University, Prof Adebayo Odebiyi, said the visit became imperative to help the university start on the right foundation.
