As part of efforts to ensure that students adapt seamlessly to their new learning environment amidst the euphoria of securing admission into higher institution, the Management of Federal University Lokoja through the Student Affairs Division has organized a 2-day Orientation Programme for fresh students in the two faculties of the University – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on Wednesday, 16^th May, 2018, and the Faculty of Science on Thursday, 17^th May, 2018.  The 6^th Orientation Programme covered a wide range of topics such as: Course Credit System and Result Computation, Morality and Dress Code, the Academic Affairs Division, University Library, SERVICOM Unit, ICT Directorate, Environmental Sanitation, Health Talks, Security Tips, Cultism and Drug Abuse, Time Management, Religious Tolerance, Sports, amongst others.

In her opening remark, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Angela Freeman Miri, who was ably represented by the Ag. Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Director of Academic Planning, Professor Makanjuola Olayemisi Osagbemi, welcomed the new students to the orientation programme, urging them to be very attentive to the lectures and prepare their jotting materials to take some important points that would be useful in the course of their stay in the University.  While speaking at the event, Professor Osagbemi advised the fresh students to begin their four years sojourn in FUL with the end in mind.   He admonished them with the maxim “Where there is no rule, there will be no sin”.  He added that new students who might have violated sections of the Students’ Handbook perhaps did it in ignorance, but going forward from this orientation, students who fall short of the rules may no longer go unpunished, stressing that there is no more excuse.

Similarly, in his welcome address, the Dean of Students, Dr. Joseph Abel said, the choice of Federal University Lokoja by the students was an excellent one because FUL is one of the leading universities among the nine (9) that were created in 2011 by the Federal Government of Nigeria.  He added that the University is already demonstrating the potentials to challenge even the older universities in Nigeria as the Institution is endowed with scholars of national and international repute who are very enterprising and very engaging. 

Explaining further, he said, Federal University Lokoja is an Institution that provides an environment that is vibrant, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic.  He enjoined the students to be discipline, obedient and strive to maintain peace and order at all times in order to successfully navigate their way through their academic journey in FUL.  In his words: “A campus is a place where your future will be defined according to how you have defined your life. It is a place that offers an unlimited but also intoxicating sense of freedom which if not carefully managed, can be destructive.”

The high point of the event was when leaders of the two religious bodies on campus led the students regardless of their religious beliefs on a tour round the University Central Mosque and the two Christian worship Centers (Regina Caeli Chaplaincy and the Chapel of Grace).  The Chief Imam of the Mosque, Imam Khalid Danjuma introduced some of the activities and operations of the Mosque to the new students, while at the Chapel of Grace and the Catholic Chaplaincy, Pastor Kayode Ajibade and Rev. Fr. Paul Tubi respectively, took turns in explaining to the fresh students their modes of worship.  This practical act of demonstrating brotherliness among the two religious bodies was part of measures to sustain and foster the prevailing religious harmony, tolerance and peaceful coexistence between the Christian and Muslim communities in the University.

According to the tradition of the University, the orientation exercise would have held earlier before the 6^th Matriculation Ceremony that took place on Tuesday, 10^th April, 2018, but due to the strike action embarked upon by the Non-Teaching Staff of Nigerian Universities and subsequent preparation for the First Semester Examinations, the exercise could not take place until now.

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