External Members of the 15^th Governing Council, University of Jos

1.   Distinguished Senator Grace Folashade Bent is a Distinguished former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria serving in the 6^th National Assembly from 2007 to 2011, representing the good people of Adamawa South constituency of Adamawa State.

Distinguished Senator Bent who is the first female Chairperson of the University of Jos Governing Council, started out as a Students’ Union Activist at the University of Calabar and later as a Broadcaster at NTA Kaduna. The Council Chairman is a prolific Writer and Author, passionate Environmentalist, renowned Politician, Community Leader and Activist as well as a grassroots mobilizer and Business Mogul. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours Degree) in English and Literary Studies, a Master of Science Degree in Political Science and International Relations and a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration from Indiana State University, USA.

2.    Hon. Taiwo Francis Akerele, is a reputable Banker, Finance Expert and International Project Consultant, Policy Strategist, Author and Politician. He is a Youth Activist, who formerly served as the Chief of Staff in the Edo State Government.

          Position: External Member, 15^th Unijos Governing Council

          State: Edo, Nigeria

3.    Dr. Shehu Adamu Kiliya is an erudite Teacher and Scholar. A widely acclaimed Academic, Animal Scientist and Community Leader, Dr. Kiliya formerly served as the Acting Provost of the College of Agriculture and Animal Science, Wurno, Sokoto State

          Position: External Member, 15^th Unijos Governing Council

          State: Sokoto, Nigeria

4.    Hon. Ajetunmobi Olawunmi Abdulrazak is a foremost Grassroots Activist, Social mobilizer, entrepreneur and trailblazer from Nigeria’s business capital, Lagos State.

Position: External Member, 15^th Unijos Governing Council

          State: Lagos, Nigeria

 5.    Name: Mrs. Obianuju Anigbogu

Position in Council: Representative of Federal Ministry of Education

Current Position: Director, Federal Ministry of Education

State: Anambra, Nigeria

 6.    Name: Pastor Nuhu Johnson Sani

          Position in Council: Representative of Convocation

          Current Position: Chief Executive, NABSADAU VENTURES, Abuja

          Area of Specialization: General & Applied Psychology/Pastor

          State: Kaduna, Nigeria

 Internal Members of the 15^th Governing Council, University of Jos

7.    Name: Prof. Mariam Danladi Solomon

          Position in Council: Senate Representative

Current Position: former Dean, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Jos

          Area of Specialization: Nutritional Biochemistry, Nutrigenomics

          State: Bauchi, Nigeria

 8.    Name: Prof. Nuhu Kutan Dakum

          Position in Council: Senate Representative

          Current Position: Hon. Consultant Urological Surgeon, JUTH, Jos

          Area of Specialization: Professor of Surgery, Faculty of Clinical

         Sciences, University of Jos

          State: Plateau, Nigeria

 9.    Name: Prof. Sati Umaru Fwatshak

          Position in Council: Senate Representative

          Current Position: former Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Jos

          Area of Specialization: African History Professor

          State: Plateau, Nigeria

 10. Name: Prof. Jamila Nasir

          Position in Council: Senate Representative

          Current Position: former Director, Centre for Intellectual Property

          Area of Specialization: Professor of Law

          State: Plateau, Nigeria

 11. Name: Dr. Jimam Lar

          Position in Council: Congregation Representative

          Current Position: Lecturer, Department of History and International Studies,

         Faculty of Arts, University of Jos/immediate-past HOD

          Area of Specialization: African History and Politics

          State: Plateau, Nigeria

 12. Name: Prince Adamu James Aku

          Position in Council: Congregation Representative

          Current Position: Senior Deputy Bursar, Bursary Department, University of Jos

          State: Plateau, Nigeria

Principal Officers of the University of Jos

Name: Professor Tanko Ishaya FBCS, FNCS

Position: 10^th Substantive Vice-Chancellor

Professor Tanko Ishaya is a Professor of Computer Science with over 20 years post PhD in Computing and over 30 years of professional and academic experience. He is an accomplished international academic with a proven track record of scholarship, research and academic leadership.  His research focus is on Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), eHealth, Internet of Things (IoT), Security and Trustworthy Computing, Digital Forensics, and Technology Support for Personalized e-Services.

He spent about twenty (20) years in the United Kingdom as an IT and academic professional

§  He was Head of the Centre for Internet Computing of the University of Hull, UK.

§  He first returned to the University of Jos in 2008 on a sabbatical from the University of Hull, UK and was the founding Director of the University of Jos’ Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and again returned to Unijos and was appointed Director, ICT between 2012 and 2018

§  Was also the pioneer Head of Computer Science Department, University of Jos

§  Was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) from 2018 until December, 2021 when he was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jos

State: Kebbi, Nigeria

Name: Professor Rahila Gowon

Position: 1^st female Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), and only the 2^nd female DVC in the history of the University of Jos

Area of Specialization: Professor of English Education

State: Plateau, Nigeria

Name: Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan SAN

Position: Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration)

Area of Specialization: Professor of Law and Legal Luminary

State: Kogi, Nigeria

Name: Dr Rejoice James Songden

Position: Registrar/Secretary to Council (The 1^st female Registrar in the history of the University)

State: Plateau, Nigeria

Name: Mr. Fada Philip Umbugala

Position: Bursar

State: Nasarawa, Nigeria

Name: Professor Victoria Ladi Lawal

Position: University Librarian

State:

UNIJOS HISTORY, ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES, PAYMENT STRUCTURE AND OTHER DETAILS AT A GLANCE

HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF JOS

The University of Jos began as a campus of the University of Ibadan in November, 1971, with the appointment of Professor E. A. Ayandele as its first Acting Principal. Its first home was the present Township Campus of the University, which is located along Murtala Mohammed Way, Jos. Its first students were admitted in January, 1972 as Pre-Degree Students. Degree courses in Arts were introduces in October, 1973, and in Science and Education the following year. The same year, the Bauchi Road Campus, which then accommodated only the Faculties of Natural, Environmental, Medical Sciences, was acquired.

In October 1975, the then Federal Military Government announced the establishment of seven new Universities and University Colleges including the University of Jos. Professor Gilbert Onuaguluchi became its first Vice-Chancellor and since then, the University has made enormous progress. Following the resignation of Professor G. Onuaguluchi as the Vice-Chancellor at the end of 1977/1978 session, Professor E. U. Emovon, from the University of Benin, was appointed his successor. He served from 1978 – 1985 and handed over the leadership of the University to Professor O. C. Onazi whose tenure lasted for four years after which he handed oer the mantle of leadership to Professor M. P. Mallum in October, 1989. Professor Mallum’s tenure also lasted for four years and ended in September, 1993.

By 1993, a new system for appointment of Vice-Chancellor in Nigeria was introduced. There was therefore a delay in the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor in 1993. In the interim, Professor G. O. M. Tasie acted as Vice-Chancellor from October 1993 to March 1994. Eventually, Professor N. E. Gomwalk was appointed Vice-Chancellor in April, 1994. His tenure ended in 1999. Professor M. Y. Mangvwat was appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor from January 2000 to 4^th May, 2001. He was later appointed substantive Vice-Chancellor with effect from 5^th May, 2001, and was succeeded by Professor C. O. E. Onwuliri who acted from 5^th May to June, 2006. Professor Sonni Gwanle Tyoden was appointed substantive Vice-Chancellor on 12^th June, 2006 to 12^th June, 2011 and was succeeded by Professor Hayward Babale Mafuyai in June, 2011. Professor Mafuyai spent five years and handed over to Professor Seddi Sebastian Maimako on 23^rd June, 2016 whose tenure lasted until 23^rd June, 2021. Professor Tanko Ishaya FBCS, FNCS took over as the 10^th substantive Vice-Chancellor on 1^st December, 2021 having taken over from Professor G.G Ejikeme who acted from 24^th June, 2021 to 31^st November, 2021.

The University of Jos has a Vision and Mission Statement. The Vision Statement of the University is to be a globally rated University providing an excellent educational experience with high impact on the society, while the Mission Statement of the University is to serve the people of Nigeria and humanity at large by:

·         Encouraging and promoting a culture of excellence and building an innovative University

·         Delivering an outstanding and inclusive student Academic experience as well as promoting good character.

The University of Jos is an autonomous public institution with the general function of providing liberal higher education and encouraging the advancement of learning throughout Nigeria and the world at large. The University is made up of the Visitors, Chancellor, Council, Senate, Congregation, Graduates and Undergraduates of the University and all other persons who are members of the University in accordance with the provision of the University of Jos Decree of 1976.

The University has a College of Health Sciences, School of Postgraduate Studies, African Centre of Excellence in Phytomedicine Research and Development (ACEPRD), Centre for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Centre for Continuing Education, Centre for Intellectual Property, Centre for Accounting and Postgraduate Research, Centre for Nomadic Education, Centre for Gender and Women Studies, Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies, Centre for Conflict Management and Peace Studies, Office of Research and Development, Institute of Education, A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI), Tetfund Centre of Excellence in Food Security, Advancement Office, Alumni Relations, and the American Corner. These centres drive most of the University’s research agenda. The University provides other complementary services such as Library Services, ICT Services, Consultancy Services, Health Services, Non-NUC Funded Programmes, and Staff Schools.

The University of Jos is not only a leading Nigeria Institution, and its Students amongst the best of their generation, but the University is also taking necessary steps towards becoming a world class research-intensive Institution. The University has a considerable track record for consistently achieving high standards in teaching and learning. This vital part of the University’s mission has enabled it to build partnerships with other institutions, the public sector, industry and commerce.

The University of Jos places emphasis on providing high quality teaching linked to high quality research. In this vein, University of Jos has been declared Africa’s Centre of Excellence for Phyto-medicine Research Development and awarded a world bank grant to conduct research in the development of new medicines using natural plants and herbs.

The A. P. Leventis Ornithological Institute (APLORI) has played a strategic role in Ornithology and Biodiversity research and conversation since 2002. Its Graduate Programmes attracts Students from Nigeria, Africa and Europe.

The University Governing Council in its wisdom felt that to harness and exploit the vast potentials inherent in alumni, it needed to provide a platform by which alumni activities and relationship with their alma-mater can be made more visible and viable. It was based on this, that the Directorate of Alumni Relations was established in 2016. The tremendous support which the Directorate of Alumni Relations has enjoyed, has so far placed Alumni on the front burner in support of the University. This feat has encouraged alumni as individuals and in groups as well as an organized body such as the Unijos Alumni Association to pull in resources both in cash and in kind for the progress of the University. Unijos Graduates are found all over the world excelling in different spheres of life. These graduates have gone on to excel in many areas of human endeavour both nationally and internationally including the Military, Security, Civil Society, Public Service, Private Sector, Arts and Entertainment industries.

University of Jos was the first University in Nigeria to embrace the culture of Strategic Planning with the first Plan developed in 1998. Since then, three other Plans have been developed and successfully implemented. The latest plan covering the period of five years (2015- 2019), aims to provide a coherent, inclusive and integrated guide to the development of the University. The focus and theme for the Fourth Strategic Plan is to ‘Sustain a Culture of Excellence’ in the processes and programmes of the University of Jos.

The University, mainly through funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), has invested millions of naira on new buildings, laboratories, classrooms and equipment. These include the construction of new Faculty Buildings, Students Hostels, new College of Medicine at the University's Laminga Campus. Others include the construction of a pedestrian bridge now reputed to be the longest in West Africa. Hostels are undergoing rehabilitation and some of the internal road networks at the Naraguta Campus have been completed. Provision of laboratory equipment and other facilities to aid teaching, learning and research has been accorded top priority.

As a University which prides itself as a ‘Research Intensive’ institution, University of Jos has enjoyed uncommon support from TETfund towards improving the capacity of its Scholars, Researchers, Academic and other support Units to undertake cutting-edge Researches with high impact on society. TETfund grants provided to Academics in the University through the National Research Fund (NRF) has strengthened Research projects, activities and initiatives and led to the publication of acclaimed institution Journals in the University.

 NUMBER OF FACULTIES/CAMPUSES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF JOS

From a modest four (4) Faculty structure with about 700 Students, the University has grown to Fifteen (15) Faculties namely; Agriculture, Arts, Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Dental Sciences, Education, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Health Science and Technology, Law, Management Sciences, Natural Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine. There are currently seventy-five (75) Academic Programmes withered across ninety-one (91) Academic Departments. The University operates a multi-campus structure with four Campuses namely Naraguta Campus, Bauchi Road Campus, Township (Gangare) Campus and the Lamingo Campus while Student enrollment stands at 37,370 full-time, Part-Time and Postgraduate Students.

EXISTING ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

AREAS OF COMPARATIVE ACADEMIC STRENGTH

The University Administration has adopted a robust Quality Assurance mechanism through the Directorate of Academic Planning and Management towards ensuring that all the University’s Academic and related programmes are of the highest standard or at the very least, meet the minimum benchmark for undertaking the programmes. Consequently, a major activity for the Departments, Faculties, Institutes, College and the University Senate has been the effort to restructure many of the academic programmes run by the University. This is in order to make programmes more relevant to the present day realities and its students more suited to the demands of an ever evolving labour market and the larger society. As the University emphasizes the need to sustain the culture of excellence and build a more distinct character, the aim is to transform the University into a strong regional force in the enterprise of human capital development relevant to the 21^st Century.

In the intervening years, the University has developed comparative strength in several Academic disciplines including Medical Sciences (MBBS), Law, Computer Science, Theatre and Films Arts, Mass Communication, History and International Studies, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sociology, Architecture, Building, Geology and Mining, Zoology as well as the various Education disciplines.

  GROWTH IN STAFF POPULATION PER FACULTY

GROWTH IN STUDENT POPULATION PER FACULTY

 Library Resource/Infrastructure

There is no gaining the fact that Libraries are the hub and engine room of every University. This is because Libraries are the repository of academic resources that complement and support teaching, research and learning facilities for academic excellence in any University.

The University of Jos Library began as a Campus Library servicing the newly created University of Ibadan, Jos Campus in 1972. The Library now offers services at four locations – the Township Campus Library (Gangare), the Bauchi Road Campus Library, the Naraguta Campus Library and the Medical Library at the Lamingo Campus (JUTH Permanent Site). The University of Jos Library has the vision of being an internationally ranked Library that is technology driven and managed by competent, creative and innovative Staff. The University Library has become an integral and indispensable user-centred research arm of the University where Staff and Students can access academic resources and engage in intellectual enterprise in a quiet, individual or group, closed or open spaces. This is most visible at both the Bauchi Road Campus and Naraguta Campus Libraries where the concept of a Creative Learning Space has been actualized. The Libraries are set up in a way that seeks to provide resources and learning space in an atmosphere made as natural and flexible as possible so that the users would feel relaxed enough to concentrate on their intellectual engagements. Seats and seating arrangements of different kinds to suit different preferred reading postures and experiences of users, access to internet services for electronic books and journals as well as the continuing acquisition of new hard-copy books and journals, are some of the critical provisions of the Creative Learning Space concept. Most of the funding for books and Library equipment used in actualizing the Creative Learning Space concept come from TETfund.

Many Students who frequently use these Library facilities have confirmed that the novel deployment of the facilities have made them more comfortable when studying and accessing research materials which in turn encourages them to always come back.

As alluded to earlier, a modern, functional four-storey building at the Naraguta Permanent Site of the University had been designed to accommodate a population of 10,000 Students with capacity for 500,000 volumes of books and 2,000 readers within a total area of about 12,700 Square metres. Due to the pressure of office and lecture hall constraints, however, the building was turned into a multipurpose complex housing two Faculties, Arts, Social Sciences, while the Arts, Social Sciences, Education, Environmental Sciences and Department of Geology Library collections occupied only a portion of a floor in the building with sitting capacity for a few hundred readers compared to the 2,000 earlier planned. Although the Library also had Computer Labs, Reading Section for Postgraduate Students, Serial Section and e-Library, it had effectively become a tenant in its own building.

Then, tragedy struck on 8^th October, 2016 when an inferno gutted the Main Library Complex at the Naraguta Campus which had housed about Sixty percent of the University’s learning resources. The University Administration quickly launched a campaign called “Beauty from Ashes” with the aim of soliciting support towards the rehabilitation of the facility from individuals, institutions and organizations both within Nigeria and abroad with many donating towards the project. Despite these spirited efforts, however, succour only came when the Federal Government through the Tertiary Education Fund (TETfund) awarded the sum of Seven Hundred and Twenty-Nine Million Naira for the rehabilitation of the Library. It is heartening to report that the Naraguta Campus Library Complex has now taken proper shape and has reverted back to the original idea of being operated exclusively as a Library. All the Faculties and Departments hitherto housed there have been relocated to other structures.