Professor Adokiye Adulphus Okujagu is one of the newly promoted lecturers at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, IAUE, in this interview with Port Harcourt Spectator Newspaper, he said the institution in recent years has witnessed infrastructural revolution.
Excerpt:
Question: Can you please, introduce yourself?
Answer: My name is Prof. Adokiye Adulphus Okujagu, a Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood Education, at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education.
Question: As one of the newly promoted professors by the university, can you tell us how you feel?
Answer: It’s a thing of joy when somebody in his place of work rises from the bottom to the very top. I came into this university when it was a College of Education as a Graduate Assistant (the lowest rank in academics), and I have made progressive progress. I didn’t miss any rank while going up. From Graduate Assistant, I became Assistant Lecturer, and I kept going, I later rose to Lecturer Two, from there to Lecturer One, to Senior Lecturer and to Reader (Associate Professor), and now, am at the very top as a Professor. It will gladden any person that you have moved steadily and progressively from the bottom to the top.
Question: How will the institution benefit from your promotion?
Answer: Well, to become a Professor is not an easy task. Let me also say that the present Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ozo-Mekuri Ndimele is a progressive. He has a progressive mind. He has made sure that people who are qualified to be made professors are made professor. That is what he is doing here. And how do you judge the quality of a university? One parameter is the number of professors in university levels. That’s to say that, a university is involved much in academics and research. So, to be a professor is a product of research and no person does a research and hides the findings of the research. The findings is published for everyone to see because in cause of the research there would be recommendations and those things recommended in cause of your research will be used. So, to a very large extent, the professors that has come to be under Professor Ndimele, I would say they are the pride of the university because they will take the university to even greater heights. Like I said, professors does not conduct research and hide it, he has to bring it to limelight for people to benefit from which means that professors now are in-charge of so many high-ranking offices here. Also, as a professor, despite the fact that you have reached the peak of your career, one major thing you need to be doing is to be mentoring people especially the younger ones in your department as well as the students. Yes, because you will retire someday and it is a desire of academics that future generations do better than what they have done and this we can achieve through the process of mentoring the younger ones under us.
Question: Can you briefly assess the present administration of the university?
Answer: I would not want to compare between the present and past Vice Chancellors of this institution because, chief executives have their own style of administration.But, the emergence of Professor Ozo-Mekuri Ndimele as the Vice Chancellor of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education has brought in a whole lot of changes to the university. One significant area I would want to talk about briefly is ‘Discipline’. Though discipline has been there in the university right from the time of other VCs but since the coming of Prof. Ndimele, there has been some kind of emphasis. The society is dynamic, so changes occur, even discipline as we see, the things that brings about indiscipline also change. And when these changes occur, leaders will also evolve better and viable ways of tackling indiscipline. The current VC is somebody that warns, as human, he doesn’t punish first offender, especially as it has to do with civil service job, he warns and query, but if the act of indiscipline persists, he will have no choice than to bring in the hammer. His actions and measures to ensure discipline in the university is in the right direction. You know, university is a big institution, we have the good, the bad and the ugly; and there has to be a way of ensuring there is peace and orderliness in the campus because if there is no orderliness, academic activities will not strive. So, to that extent, with his measures, he has really tried to bring sanity to the institution so that academic activities can go on unhindered, and that is why we are here. So, if you are here as a lecturer or a student and you are hindering academic activities, then the aim for establishing this place is defeated.
Question: How has the measure put in place by the school authority to tackle indiscipline, social vices and other crime related activities in the institution impacted the students and staffs?
Answer: On the part of the students, you know the university being a micro society, there are bound to be vices with different people coming from different places. Just as the faces are different so also are the characters too.
But I must say that since the present VC came in, there has been some misbehaviour from students and staff. Infact there was a case where a male student disguised as a female to gain full access to the female hostel. We also had cases of students conspiring to defraud fellow students, rape, harassment among students, etc, and of course, he has taken some good steps to tackle those problems, and sometimes lecturers too. He has really taken good measures to arrest those situations including examination malpractice, and today these issues have been contained and brought under control as you barely get such reports again. It is difficult to deal with all these situations but he is actually trying as he has achieved allot, though not as an individual but we are also collectively working with him because he cannot be everywhere at the same time.
He is just the Chief Executive, he has people working with him both academic and non-academic staff who also contribute to the successes he has recorded so far, but I must say that of a truth, he has recorded so much success.
Question: With the present state of the institution, what message do you think these measures are sending out to the society about the university?
Answer: Firstly, this is a foremost teachers training institution, the founding fathers of Rivers State thought that manpower and human capital development is paramount to progress and prosperity in the state. So this school initially established as an Advance Teachers Training College (ATTC), it has modified to College of Education and by God’s grace through the instrumentality of the government, it has now become a university. Now being a university, it did not actually deviate from the vision of the founding fathers among which is production of quality teachers to teach in different institutions, from primary, secondary and to all levels. So, being such a teachers training institution, our doors are very wide open to the public. But in all one clear message to everyone out there intending to enroll with us, parents and the society at large is that; It is no longer business as usual when it comes to any form of ill practices ranging from examination malpractice, cultism, stealing, rape, harassment of students and lecturers among other crime related activities on the campus.
Now it is a question of you coming here as a student and remaining focused with why you are here. And even parents who want to bring their children or ward here, I’m sure they must have been hearing about what is happening here so they would need to counsel their children and ward because it is no longer business as usual. Any person seeking for admission into IAUOE should come here with the mindset of being serious with his/her studies because that is what we do here. We don’t promote cultism here. This is an academic institution, citadel of learning and centre for excellence. So, whosoever is coming here as a student, including parents, should also have this at the back of their minds so that when they come here, they queue in to the excellence mantra otherwise you will be shown the way out.
Question: if you have one word for the VC, what would you say?
Answer: This is coming timely, even though he is mopping up. The Vice Chancellor of this university, Prof. Ndimele has tried in so many ways. One among which is infrastructural revolution. He has brought what I can refer to as infrastructural revolution to this university.
What do I mean by infrastructural revolution? Before now, staff, teaching and non-teaching stay under trees as offices. Some operates from their cars as offices to the effect that when they come out from the classroom they just enter their cars and go because there is nowhere for them to sit down and do other things. But since this VC came in, he has made some aggressive construction efforts in the campus. In the area of Infrastructure; we have more and better classroom blocks, staff offices. In fact, the constructions are still going on as we speak.
Not too long ago, the faculty of business studies has been directed to go to their (wonderful) complex with fantastic lecture halls and staff offices at the Abuja section of the university campus. So, when staffs have offices, well furnished and air conditioned, they work in a relaxed atmosphere and of course working in a relaxed atmosphere has its own advantages, it brings about increase in productivity. So he has done so well in that regard.
Question: If you have an advice for the VC, what would you tell him?
Answer: Ordinarily, the VC is human, he may have his faults too. But as humans, wherever we find ourselves we cannot be perfect in all areas, but I must confess that the areas he has handled, he has done so very well.
I would advice that he should not rest on his oars. Also, that wherever he may find himself in the future, he should also be as bold as he has been here to initiate development. Nothing should stop him from moving forward because the man has a progressive mind. It’s my prayer that nothing stops him from making further progress.
