By Polycarp Auta
Stakeholders in education observe that the University of Abuja ought to be a pride of the nation, central and strategic to the league of universities.

Founded in January 1988 as a dual-mode university, to run conventional and distance learning programmes, UniAbuja is located at Airport Road, Abuja, with a huge population of more than 40,000 undergraduate students.

Observers note that with the credentials of the university, the public sees it as the University for National Unity with abundant potential because of its favoured location.

Critics also note that although there were efforts by the past administration of the institution at achieving the purpose of its creation, the recent development on the campus suggests that the current administration has built well on the past achievements to make the institution a world-class, capable of competing with any university across the globe.

They cite the instance of the parameter fencing of the university conceived by the previous administration but actualised by the current Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, to provide adequate security for the students and to make the campus visible and beautiful.

Stakeholders observe that Na’Allah is instrumental, to a great extent, in the recent development on the campus by improving on the past administration’s efforts to give the institution a befitting position among the Nigerian universities.

Impressed by the development on the campus, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun, appraised Na’Allah’s development strides.

The envoy gave the commendation in his remarks in Abuja recently during the presentation of scholarship awards to 49 students of the institution in recognition of their academic performance.

“You are the future of Nigeria, we have lessons, we have policies, we have programmes and we have success stories to showcase.

“I am working to bring Nigerian people to China next year to study the secret of the Chinese people, the Chinese government, and the Communist Party of China, which has done the unprecedented in eradicating extreme poverty,” he promised.

Also, a final year student of Linguistics, Miss Ibukunoluwa Olaitan, observes that the administration of Na’Allah is charaterised with innovations, noting that the situation on campus has changed from where it was used to when she began her course a few years back.

Assessing the level of developments on the campus, Na’Allah said: “I would say that we have done tremendously well, especially looking at where I met the university in July 2019 when I was appointed.

“We have a university that has a lot of potential in the capital city, but unable to utilise such opportunity for a good many years of existence. So when I came in, I understood the need to get things done quickly, because as a person, coming in with my experience, my exposure, I could not just accept what I met.

“So I set out to work, to have a university that is respected locally and internationally, a university in which student can come in and graduate and earn what he works for, a university in which all staff members are proud to work.

“Then I assembled a good and hardworking team, whom I knew believed in our vision of changing the face of the university and turning it into a world-class university.

“We introduced several programmes, including students employment scheme, student mentoring programme, undergraduate research grants, counselling, and career services; as well as developing infrastructure, upgrading the hostels, improving the campus environment, introducing sports facilities, ensuring equipment reagents are available for learning, providing computer laboratories across the campus, and the list is long.

“We are doing great things that many can attest to, all geared towards making this university a model for every other university, especially in Africa.”

But a Law graduate of the university in 2018, Mr Fortune Ugwumba, observes that with a population of over 40,000 students, the university has undergone many phases of problems ranging from academic and non-academic staff strike even up to infrastructural degradation in the past.

He, however, commended the quality of education in the institution, saying “a 2:1 student of UniAbuja is a first-class student of any other university in Nigeria, while a 2:2 student is a 2:1 student of other universities.”

Similarly, a graduate of Sociology and International Relations of the university, Mr Adebayo Juwon, notes: “Prior before now, the institution ranked poorly as it sits at a fluctuating position of between 55th and 45th position some years ago in many national ranking publications.

“But that has been a story of the past as the inception of a new administration has set the cause right for the vice-chancellor to begin a quest of ground-breaking achievements that will span through sessions.”

Sharing similar sentiments to corroborate the observers’ views, Na’Allah said: “This University gives a lot of priority to research at different levels. For instance, through our Centre for Undergraduate Research, we encourage undergraduate students to embark upon research under the mentorship of some academic staff and we fund that.

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“When they turn in their proposal and it is good, some get about N300, 000, N500, 000, 800,000 and so forth, depending on the nature of the research. We spend millions on this research.

“We also have the centre for sponsored projects doing great in terms of deepening and creating opportunities for research in the university. Let me tell you that we started the first year by celebrating research activity when our lecturers were bringing in grants.

“When we first did the celebration, our academic staff had brought in N350 million and we thought that was big. When we celebrated in December 2021, we realised more than N1 billion, some of these grants came from Europe.

“In this wise, we have collaborated with various organisations, government agencies, non-governmental organisations, and private organisations, among others, that can benefit from such research and run with it.”

On students’ admission to the university, Na’Allah insists that “admission at the University of Abuja goes through a process that is transparent and has a high level of integrity.

“The University of Abuja may have had some difficult history, it is not the reality today, our admission follows a very thorough process because the university has values, and our values matter to us.

“Besides, since I came here, we do our best to ensure that nobody who merits admission is denied such admission. Since I came in as vice-chancellor, we have never left any state outside in the admission process, and our record is there and we will continue to respect that pattern because ours is a university for national unity.”

On the uncompleted mega projects of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the campus since 2014, Na’Allah explains that the projects are Postgraduate School, Postgraduate Hostel, ICT Centre, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering and Medical Hostel, Gwagwalada.

“When I came in 2019, we discovered the