Federal University, Lokoja (FUL), Kogi, says it is pushing for full accreditation of its 39 academic programmes with National University Commission (NUC).

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi, made the disclosure on Monday at a news briefing at the institution’s Senate Chamber to mark his one year in office.

Akinwumi said that when he assumed office as the vice-chancellor on Feb. 15, 2021, he was made to understand that all the programmes had no issues, until much later when he discovered the true situation of things.

“I know the implications of running a programme without full accreditation. And that was why I decided to make necessary arrangements to meet all the NUC requirements for course accreditation.

“By God’s grace, we hope to get all our 39 programmes accredited by NUC within this year.

“This entails employing more teaching and non-teaching academic staffers to be able to meet up with the NUC requirements.

“Presently, most of our academic staffers are visiting lecturers who are filling the gap, and they have tremendously helped in placing FUL as the best federal university in the country,” he stated.

According to the vice-chancellor, the university has more than 1,000 academic staff teaching over 7,000 students undertaking the 39 programmes.

He said that the university hoped to commence admission for its medical programmes this year, while those of engineering would follow, once all the necessary steps had been taken.

Akinwumi was full of praises to TETFund for the support it had given the university in term of infrastructural development.

He said that plans were underway to ensure that students had enough accommodation within and outside the university.

The vice-chancellor added that the management was working towards acquiring or renting some buildings outside the campus for students’ accommodation.

Akinwumi disclosed that an industrialist and philanthropist, Chief Innocent Zuma, Chief Executive Chairman, Eta-Zuma Group West Africa Limited, denoted two brand new 18-seater Hummer buses to the university.

“In fact, we are sending two of drivers down to Lagos to bring the buses to us here in Lokoja,” he said.

The vice-chancellor assured that the institution would, in no time, be one of the best universities in the world.

He appealed to the Federal Government and corporate organisations for more funding and support to the university.