All the top universities in Nigeria today did not look the way there are
now when they were founded. Most of them took off from temporary sites,
with less than 500 students, a handful of lecturers amongst others.
Growing a university is a process not an event. You don't set up a
university today and expect it to be like BUK, UI, Ife, Nsuka and ABUs of
this world.
1. Bayero University Kano: Established in 1977 was founded as part of
schools
for Arabic studies in 1960 and was Later a university college
affiliated to the Ahmadu Bello University.
2. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria: At the opening on October 4, 1962,
thanks in part to absorbing existing institutions, ABU claimed four
faculties comprising 15 departments. However, students in all
programs numbered only 426. The challenges faced were enormous. Over 60
years of British colonial rule, education in the Northern Region...
had
lagged far behind that of the two southern regions. Few students from
the North had qualifications for university entrance, and fewer still
northerners had qualifications for teaching appointments. Of the
original student body, only 147 were from the North. ABU’s first vice
chancellor (principal administrator and leader) was British, as were
most of the professorial appointments. Only two Nigerians — Dr. Iya
Abubakar (Mathematics) and Adamu Baikie (Education) — were among the
earliest round of faculty appointments. Facilities on the main Samaru
campus were inadequate, and the administration and integration of the
physically separated pre-existing institutions was difficult.
3. University of Lagos: For the first academic session, 1962/1963, the
University admitted 46 students for the Faculty of Commerce and Business
Administration and 26 for the Faculty of Law. These students received
their first lectures on 22 October 1962 at the temporary site in a
secondary school at Idi-Araba, adjacent to the Medical School and the
Teaching Hospital. 28 medical students had already commenced lectures
three weeks earlier on 3 October, 1962. The University moved from its
temporary location in Idi-Araba to the Akoka main campus in September
1965. The direction of the University’s future development was
consolidated with the promulgation of the University of Lagos Decree in
1967 (Decree No. 3 of 1967). The new constitution created an integrated
and more structurally coherent institution by establishing a single
Council for the whole university. The previous arrangement had two
separate Councils, one for the University and the other for the Medical
School.
4. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife: The site selected for the
University was Ile-Ife, a town about 65 kilometers north-east of Ibadan
Oyo State. Ife is famous as the centre of an ancient civilization and
the home of the Museum which contains the renowned Ife heads. It was
intended that temporary buildings should be put on the site to enable
teaching to commence in October 1962, while the permanent buildings were
subsequently planned and erected. But when the Federal Government
transferred the Ibadan Branch of the Nigeria College of Arts, Science
and Technology, to the University, if was decided that it would be
unnecessary to put up temporary buildings at Ife, and the University was
temporary located on the site of the Ibadan Branch of the Nigerian
College. Teaching began in October with an initial enrolment of 244
students. The teaching, administration and technical staff. Either
transferred from the Nigerian College of Art, or were newly recruited
from abroad, numbered about eighty.
5. University of Nigeria, Nsuka: The provisional council, authorized
by the Eastern Nigeria Legislature, was appointed by the Governor in
Council in April 1959, and given necessary financial and administrative
powers to build a sound university. It reflected the spirit of
international cooperation which has given birth to the institution. It
consisted of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chairman, Dr T. Olawale Elias and Dr
Okechukwu Ikejiani from the Federation of Nigeria, J.S. Fulton from the
United Kingdom, Dr Margueritue Cartwright and Dr Eldon Lee Johnson from
the United States of America.
6. University of Ibadan, UI: The
University of Ibadan started off as the University College, Ibadan
(UCI) which was founded in 1948, occupying, at first, the old site at
Eleyele. It later moved to the new site which covered over 2,550 acres
of land. The site was generously leased by the chiefs and people of
Ibadan for 999 years. The establishment of the University could be
traced directly to the reports in 1945 of the Asquith and Elliot
Commissions which were set up by the British Government in 1943.
Equipment was transferred to the university from its sub-university
status forerunners, the Yaba Higher College, (established in 1932 but
formally opened in 1934), and the Yaba Medical School (established in
1930). There were 104 foundation students (including 49 students in
teacher training and survey courses) who began their courses at Ibadan
on 18 January 1948. The formal opening took place on 25 March, 1948.
Click the link below to read more.
No comments:
Post a Comment