The National Universities Commission (NUC) has granted accreditation to forty-two (42) academic programmes run by the Federal University Lokoja (FUL), according to the results of the October/November 2023 accreditation exercise which have been released to the University. The NUC is a supervisory agency of the Federal Government saddled with the statutory mandate of accrediting academic programmes in all Nigerian Universities.
In a letter conveyed by the acting Director of Accreditation, Engr. Abraham Chundusu on behalf of the Executive Secretary and read by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olayemi Akinwumi during the 85th Senate meeting held on Thursday, 27th June 2024, all the 42 programmes assessed by NUC (most for the first time) in the last year's exercise have been accredited.
Recall that the Vice-Chancellor, upon assumption of office in 2021, inherited most of these new programmes established by his predecessor which were not resource verified by NUC or recognized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Recognizing the negative implications of not securing the necessary approvals, Professor Akinwumi promised to ensure that these programmes undergo resource verification by the supervisory bodies as the first step and prerequisite before presenting them also for subsequent accreditation, acknowledging that government is a continuum.
True to his words, the Vice-Chancellor and his Management team swung into action immediately despite the daunting challenges of sourcing for the huge financial resources needed to ensure a smooth and successful resource verification of such a large number of new programmes that his administration inherited at once.
The University Management under his visionary leadership did not only obtain the approvals of NUC and JAMB for these programmes in 2022, but has just secured their respective accreditation, a milestone that was received with great joy by members of the University community, particularly the 400L students whose hope and chances of graduating this year and mobilized for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme were uncertain before now.
In addition, the University had earlier secured the re-accreditation of the existing programmes in the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, while the administration, in line with its 5-year vision plan, went ahead to also establish new programmes including Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing Science, Medical Laboratory, Engineering, Law, Agriculture, Educational Management and Planning, among others.
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olayemi Akinwumi on behalf of the University Management, expressed profound appreciation to the National Universities Commission (NUC), members of Senate, Staff and Students of the University for their cooperation and tireless efforts that led to this remarkable achievement.
Below is the list of the newly accredited programmes which cut across different Departments and Faculties as shown in the technical reports and summary of results.
Administration:
1. Accounting
2. Banking and Finance
3. Business Administration
4. Public Administration
Arts:
5. Arabic
6. Archaeology
7. Christian Religious Studies
8. Islamic Religious Studies
9. Linguistics
10. Music
11. Philosophy
12. Theatre Arts
Communication and Media Studies:
13. Mass Communication
Computing:
14. Computer Science
Education:
15. Business Education
16. Education Biology
17. Education Chemistry
18. Education Computer Science
19. Education Economics
20. Education English Language
21. Education Geography
22. Education History
23. Education Mathematics
24. Education Physics
25. Education Political Science
26. Guidance and Counseling
27. Integrated Science
28. Library and Information Science
29. Social Studies
Science:
30. Biochemistry
31. Biology
32. Biotechnology
33. Botany
34. Chemistry
35. Geology
36. Industrial Chemistry
37. Mathematics
38. Microbiology
39. Physics
40. Statistics
41. Zoology
Social Science:
42. Sociology