FULL TEXT: Letter to all stakeholders in the University of Ibadan Project

Prof Abel Idowu Olayinka
The 12th Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan

Dear Stakeholder in the UI Project

1. I am Abel Idowu Olayinka, a 1977 Alumnus of Ibadan and a Professor of Applied Geophysics in the Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan. I was appointed the 12th Vice-Chancellor of our great university on 9th September, 2015. The five-year tenure commences on 1st December, 2015. I am taking over from Prof Isaac Folorunso Adewole, FAS. I am sure you will join me in congratulating him for his outstanding and exemplary performance in office. We wish him well in his new preferment as the Honorable Minister of Health in the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

2. Our dear university has had a chequered history, dating back to 1948, when it was established as the University College Ibadan, in special arrangement with the University of London. According to the Foundation Principal, Professor John Kenneth Mellanby, ‘the provision of teaching for our students and the prosecution of original research by our staff were our most important duties’. Successive administrations have been building upon the solid foundation and culture of research.

3. For example, our longest serving Vice-Chancellor, Professor Emeritus Ayodeji Banjo, who recruited me as a Temporary Lecturer Grade II straight from my postgraduate studies at the University of Birmingham said ‘the overarching aim, of which I never allowed myself to lose sight, was the realisation and preservation of Ibadan as one of the most distinguished centres of learning in Africa, and among the leading universities of the world, as it had promised to be in its first twenty-five years’.

4. Similarly, my boss under whom I served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), my senior colleague and the immediate past Vice-Chancellor Professor Isaac Folorunso Adewole, maintained that his priority was ‘to reposition the University to be international, self-reliant, self-sustaining and the leader in academic excellence as well as professional growth’.

5. The Vision of the University of Ibadan for the 21st century is to be a world-class institution for academic excellence geared towards meeting societal needs. My primary task as the chief executive is to drive, manage and strengthen the vision and dreams of our great institution, and thus set an agenda for development.

6. In consonance with the foregoing vision, the overall theme of our programme of action for Ibadan over the next five years has been entitled ‘Accelerated Development through Consolidation and Innovation’.

7. Consequently, as the Vice-Chancellor, my Vision is for our prestigious University ‘To be a research-intensive institution for the transformation of Nigeria as a 21st century knowledge-driven, rapidly globalizing economy’.

8. My Mission is ‘To create a high performance University, with outstanding teaching and learning facilities, that is locally relevant, nationally pre-eminent and globally competitive’ and ‘To produce graduates who are eminently employable, entrepreneurial and well-connected within a professionally and intellectually stimulating environment’.

9. Always conscious that we are inheritors of a hallowed and enviable tradition, we are a very attractive brand as an institution and this would be strengthened. At the heart of this strategy is a drive to further enhance our reputation. This will enable our University to continue to attract high quality teaching and research staff, together with talented students, and will also ensure that our degrees maintain their quality and prestige in the employment market place. Key attributes that enable us to enhance our reputation are the production of excellent research and the consistently high quality of our graduates.

10. This project is a collective effort and would involve creating leaders at every level; building teams and promoting team work; igniting the passion for success in our staff and students; involving every one; being innovative and creative; thinking outside the box and discovering opportunities; introducing positive change and making gigantic leaps forward, creating new products, processes and services; listening to others thus gaining new insights and being open to new ideas; and leading by example.

11. We would ensure pro-active, creative, innovative and pragmatic strategies by melding the traditional academic culture with the demands of a knowledge-based economy. We would create new models for university governance. In our technological, knowledge-driven world, change is inevitable. Our strategic research must contribute to local, national and global development. Both resources and resourcefulness are vitally important in achieving these ideals. Our university has a vast reservoir of human capital with multiple skills, which we have to harness using modern technology to produce competent graduates who will stand out from the crowd.

12. We shall put in place mechanisms for communicating, monitoring, evaluating and re-evaluating our shared vision as stakeholders in the institution with key performance indicators, milestones and measures that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.

13. My style of leadership would be transformational which would include supporting the implementation of the conventional rules of the game while subjecting them to rigorous questioning; ever willing to try novel situations for novel opportunities; seeing change as desirable even while recognizing the place of ‘continuity and tradition’ and always striving for a new future. Overall, the implementation of the Vision of the University would be centred on a future that would be changed through creative effort – ‘business unusual’.

14. Soon after I emerged the Vice-Chancellor designate, I requested many well-meaning eminent, dutiful and diligent colleagues, alumni/alumnae and students, who have faith in the UI Project, under the auspices of the Vision Implementation Committee to take a critical look at the Vision Document that I submitted to the Governing Council. The Committee has since submitted a detailed report which we have also discussed at an interactive session. The document that emanated from these engagements will form the road map of our new administration which we shall be submitting to the Senate and the Governing Council in the next few weeks.

15. As your 12th Vice-Chancellor, I shall provide an imaginative, inspiring, and focused leadership. I shall unite the entire community: academic staff, non-teaching staff, students, alumni/alumnae and friends of the University. I shall lead and facilitate principled, transparent and participatory governance. I shall with passion provide leadership and direction that will enable us to live up to our aspiration to be a world-class institution.

16. The first priority is staff. A university is as good as its academic, technical and administrative staff. They are the ones who ensure the highest standards of teaching, learning, research and knowledge transfer. Good staff in turn attracts quality students. Consequently, on top of my agenda is to make sure our brightest and best, and that is the vast majority of our staff, have the space and time to be effective – to think in ways that nobody else has thought in a particular domain.

17. The second priority is students. Students are the lifeblood of a university. Attracting and developing the most talented students, as amply demonstrated by the immediate past administration, will continue to be a high priority. We shall support our students to excel by helping to raise aspirations, achieve their potentials and fulfil their personal goals. We shall prepare our students to perform better, as part of a student-centred educational enterprise. We shall introduce a Peer Assisted Study Scheme (PASS) as a learning enhancement programme. A Career Development and Counselling Centre, as earlier approved by Senate, will take off in the coming weeks. We will ensure that our students are enquiry-led learners, recognized by employers for their intellectual calibre. In addition to in-depth knowledge of subject area, we will motivate our graduates to think critically and reason practically, to communicate effectively, to work in a team, and to solve problems. If it is from Ibadan, it must be of outstanding quality.

18. As our third priority, we shall explore ways that UI can make itself less dependent on government funding; these will include expanding professional postgraduate programmes and Open Distance Learning, endowment revenues, donations and research grants.

19. The fourth priority is that we shall invest heavily in physical and infrastructural facilities, to address the shortage of office spaces for staff, classrooms and laboratories. We shall address the problem of inadequate provision of municipal services, especially power and water supply.

20. The fifth priority is the provision of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and related teaching aids and e-learning resources that will facilitate the teaching, research, community services, knowledge transfer and branding of UI as a digital institution. We shall put in place a robust plan that makes it easy for us to serve our various publics better using modern technology. This has become very urgent since we now live in a digital age, a world of computers, mobile phones and the internet.

21. The sixth priority is to increase research output. We shall encourage and support our researchers to generate more papers, patents and licences. We shall put in place incentive schemes and creative ways of thinking to increase our research output. We shall strengthen the existing and create new interdisciplinary institutes/centres that reflect the now, not the past history of subject divisions. I have always strongly believed that some of the most exciting things in science and discoveries are at the boundary between different disciplines.

22. We are under no illusion that achieving all our ambitious objectives would require a great deal of hard work, sacrifice, commitment and patience. However, given the unquestionable talent of our staff, students and alumni/alumnae, as well as the tremendous goodwill that Ibadan has built up in 67 years of quality service to the nation and the world, there is little doubt that greatest UI, our national treasure, can look forward to an exciting future.

23. Arising from my previous assignments whether as Head, Department of Geology, Dean of the Postgraduate School or as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), we shall put in place a monitoring and evaluation scheme to assess on a quarterly basis our performance. The Key Performance Indicators would be a veritable means of achieving this.

24. We humbly make a passionate appeal to our proprietor, the Federal Government – and its agencies, our distinguished alumni/alumnae, staff, students, parents and guardians, Friends of UI, development partners, and other stakeholders to continue to support this precious national institution more than ever before in order for us to deliver on our sacred mandate. We are committed to make the world a better place. We are very enthusiastic about your envisaged support, which you can be rest assured would have measurable, meaningful, and innovative impact to transform our institution, community and society.

25. Any assistance to UI, our common heritage and a national resource, is support for the Nigerian nation. I trust we can continue to count on your kind support.

26. Thank you all and God bless.

Abel Idowu Olayinka