The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi, and members of the University Management were at the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) office in Abuja on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 (today) in respect of the N250 Million Grant awarded to the University by the Foundation under its Tertiary Education Grants Scheme (TEGS) for infrastructural development. The delegation met with a team of experts including the Social Development Specialist, Edidiong Idang; the Health Specialist, Hafsah A. Rabasa; and the Strategy & Quality Assurance Specialist, Ayo Olagunju.

The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the proposed project to be executed and the modalities of utilizing the grant for the intended purpose in line with ASR's vision and core mandate of sustainable impact, social development, and value addition. The two parties met to prepare the groundwork ahead of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) later this week and as well had a far-reaching discussion on other critical areas of interventions for the growth and development of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL) and the education sector in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the University Management had earlier proposed that the grant would be utilized for the construction and furnishing of a central science laboratory at the Permanent Site for effective teaching and research in the University.

In his remarks during the interactive session, the Vice-Chancellor again thanked the Chairman of ASR Africa and Founder of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu for choosing FUL as one of the 22 beneficiary Institutions in Nigeria to receive the education grant. Prof. Akinwumi further maintained that though FUL was relatively young, the University has vision and potentials of competing with the first generation Universities in Nigeria, and therefore appreciated the donor for his philanthropic gestures across the country.

It was, however, noted that the meeting would reconvene later this week for the final presentation of relevant documents and signing of MoU for seamless execution of the proposed project which would be carried out by ASR Africa and its allied partners, while a joint technical committee with members from the University would be constituted to supervise and monitor the project within the stipulated period before the commissioning.

Earlier, the MD/CEO of ASR Africa, Ubo Udoh, in a letter communicated to Management, stated that the selection of FUL as one of the Nigerian Universities and Tertiary Institutions to benefit from its 5.5 Billion Naira Africa TEGS for infrastructural development for the year 2022, was in recognition of the University’s impressive track record of quality services and the outstanding performance of its graduates nationally and internationally. 

Following the positive outcome of the interaction in Abuja, the University Management upon return to Lokoja, immediately convened a stakeholder's meeting with the end users and Heads of the various Departments under the Faculty of Science at the College of Health Sciences (Adankolo Campus) to synergize efforts towards ensuring the success of the project.

On the entourage of the Vice-Chancellor for the fruitful meeting were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Abdullahi E. Bala; Registrar, Dr (Mrs) Rebecca Okojie; Bursar, Mr John Sule Shilo; the University Librarian, Dr (Mrs) Sarah Yani; representative of the Dean of Science and Director, Research and Innovation, Professor M.N. Suleiman; and the Director, Physical Planning and Development (PP&DD), Dr. Bankole Mutalib Adeowu, among others. See more pictures here