President Goodluck Jonathan had in 2009 (then as a vice-president) correctly captured the befitting description of Nigerias premier university, when he said that the University of Ibadan belongs to every Nigerian! According to him, Every family in Nigeria has benefitted from UI. If you are not a UI graduate, somebody from your family must have graduated from the institution. If nobody from your family attended UI, then, one of your family members must have been taught by someone who was taught by a UI graduate. In other words, UI belongs to all Nigerians.Obviously, nothing could be truer than this assertion. I would like to corroborate the Presidents position by adding that anybody who has ever read the literary works of professors Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and John Pepper Clark (who are all graduates of the institution anyway), has equally drunk from the ocean of intellectualism, flowing from Ibadan to different parts of the world. Indeed, without any embroidery, UI, as one has said repeatedly, is a national patrimony that must be treasured by all Nigerians. At 63, it is still young compared to many older universities across the globe, some of which are as old as 500 years. However, it is not doing badly given its enviable antecedent.Against this background, two major events unfolded recently which vividly illustrated the prospects and challenges of Nigerias oldest university. First, the university celebrated its 63rd Foundation Day with fanfare. The second event was the silent commemoration of the first year in office of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole where stock-taking was painstakingly reviewed. Those who witnessed the two events saw the university in its true states of hope and hopelessness.Let us therefore consider the gleaming and the gloomy sides of our dear university with a view to sharing both its joy and toil, after all, light is yoke when it is shared. Arising from its Graduation and Foundation Day ceremonies, it is evident that UI is fast moving towards becoming a world-class institution. For the first time in many years, the university substantially expanded the scope of its documentation. There are more than six different publications on different issues affecting the university. Surprisingly, it produced an annual report, similar to the standard practice in the private sector where the vice-chancellor gave an account of his stewardship, including all the contracts awarded, cost, contractors, completion period, payment up to date as well as the progress recorded.Observers were amazed with the level of transparency, creativity and accountability that this novel idea of annual report advertised. Clearly, this is a radical departure from the past practice where contents of annual report of this type would have been shrouded in secrecy. Apart from the annual report, Adewole also presented to the audience other new publications such as the profile of the recipients of the universitys honorary degrees, a compendium of his many speeches, report of the disaster wreaked by the August 26 flood in the institution among others. Another heart-warming development coming from UI is the award of automatic postgraduate scholarship for all 106 first-class graduates of the university in 2011. Prof. Adewole had promised, while campaigning for the position, to give post-graduate scholarship awards to first class students. The promise was greeted by sheer cynicism, as some described the promise as a political gimmick.As noted by a national dailys editorial of November 24, 2011, encouraging the best graduating students to stay back and pursue postgraduate studies has been an old tradition in the academia until Nigerias educational system became seriously dysfunctional about two decades ago. By this gesture, UI has revived the cherished old tradition, thus, setting pace for other universities. At a time that the country is in dire need of quality manpower to take charge of the legion of universities dotting our landscape, this initiative, designed to produce adequate scholars for our needs, should be generally applauded and emulated.However, one of the major challenges militating against meaningful development in the institution is electricity. Although this is a national albatross, a university of UIs status ought to have overcome this challenge if all the technical expertise at its disposal were harnessed and synergised.While the vice-chancellor is fighting hard to actualise what he has conceptualised for the uplifting of the 63 years old institution, vicissitudes of life appeared to have slowed him down with the flood disaster of August 26, 2011. The flood which dealt debilitating blows to the institution destroyed property worth close to N10bn. The fish ponds were washed away, while the bookshops, library, teaching and research farms were badly damaged. The institution is still writhing in pains as a result of the disaster.It is certainly appropriate at this point to call on all those who have benefited from the institution, including the alumni and alumnae, friends and well-wishers as well as philanthropists to come to the aid of this highly priced university. By a way of donation, Ibadan will appreciate every little contribution that may come its way at this point in time. Interestingly, a 400 level student of the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Akinkunmi Ajisafe, who was probably touched by the institutions plight did the unusual recently when he went into his small savings account and donated the sum of five thousand naira into the UI Flood Disaster Relief Fund.A challenge: if a student could donate, what are the UI graduates of many years waiting for' Ironically, there are thousands of successful products of the institution all over the world. They must come to the aid of UI. The university is incapacitated by paucity of funds to transform into a world class citadel of learning. This is when the institution should harvest the fruits of its labour. All over the world, alumni associations play critical role in the affairs of their alma maters. UI is equally waiting for its products. Let us come back to Ibadan for a flashback. Let the alumni remember the university that made them and history will be kind to those who respond to this call.One of the greatest ways of immortalising ones name is to give back to the university that made one. Yes, some have done well for UI, but they can still do more. Thousands are still hiding, let them come and donate so as to make UI truly the first and the best.Saanu wrote in from the University of Ibadan via sundaysaanu@yahoo.com.
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