A total of 4,412 students would at the weekend graduate from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) with 64 to be awarded first class honours.
In a media briefing on the university’s 33rd convocation ceremony, its Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Nnenna Oti, disclosed that out of the number for the award of honours, 380 would receive higher degrees comprising 42 doctorates, 219 master degrees and 119 post-graduate diplomas.
She also announced that the convocation lecture would be delivered by the Pro-chancellor and chairman of council of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Dr. Godknows Bokadei Igali on the topic: “The Challenge of Funding and Survival of University Education: Options for Radical Trajectory in Nigerian Universities.”
The vice-chancellor, who would be performing her first major assignment as the eight substantive and the first female VC of the university maintained that her goal was to consolidate the culture of excellence which is the mantra of the institution and improve on the quality of products.
“We have already embarked on a number of internal reforms to improve on the teaching, research and service delivery of the institution. My management team and I are determined to overcome the set back of our academic calendar occasioned by Covid-19 lockdowns and prolonged ASUU strike in 2020.
“We are on course to normalise our academic activities by the end of the first quarter of 2022,” she said.
According to her, “it is my pleasure to highlight some of our most recent achievements; such as, the establishment of a college of medicine with proposition for a teaching hospital, the establishment of the school of electrical systems engineering technology (SESET), establishment of school of logistics and innovation technology (SLIT).”
She also pointed out that the establishment of the centre of excellence on local materials substitutions initiated by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) worth about N2 billion had been achieved.
On the issue of landing grabbing and speculators which had remained a challenge to the institution, she disclosed that with the recent release of the white paper by the state government, all FUTO lands illegally taken had been recovered and returned to the institution.
The vice-chancellor, however, appealed to various corporate organisations and philanthropists to continue to partner and the assist the institution in order to deepen their quest for home grown technological solutions and innovations to the next phase of industrial and ICT revolution in the country. (This Day)
