Mr Abdullahi Bala, formerly deputy vice chancellor administration, Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, has been inaugurated as the 7th Vice Chancellor of the University.

The event was witnessed by top government functionaries, academicians and the general public.

Bala, a professor, said during his tenure, the institution would strive hard to provide equal opportunity to individuals and groups in its admissions and appointments.

“We will work hard in navigating the University along the trajectory of progressiveness and development already charted by my predecessor,” he said.

Bala said his administration would be guided by three cardinal principles of obeying statutes of the university and laws of the land, good governance and global best practices.

According to him, “we shall take decisions that are in the best interest of the university.

“We shall also work assiduously and dispassionately towards assembling the best team to realize our set objectives.”

He pointed out that the university has witnessed a tremendous growth and development especially in the last one and half decades.

He said that with a student population of about 25,000, the university now ranked 5th among the specialized universities in Nigeria and 45th out of 4,245 universities in Africa.

He said inadequate financing has often been the bane of most its developmental plans, “our is unlikely to be different given the low allocations usually made by government to universities”.

The new vice chancellor said the institution would work towards improving the internally generated revenue to augment whatever the government provides.

“We shall also aggressively work towards blocking financial leakages.”

Earlier in his speech, immediate past vice chancellor, Mr Musbau Akanji, expressed confidence that the new vice chancellor has the pedigree to move the university to a greater height.

Akanji lauded the support from Niger state government, the university community, staff and students, adding that they made his tenure a most fulfilling outing.

NAN