The Presidential Visitation
Panel (PVP) to Federal University Lokoja has on Tuesday, April 27, 2021
interacted with the Staff and Students' Unions of the University in order to get
first-hand information and be kept abreast of the challenges facing the young
and promising University, and also with a view to making strong recommendations
to the Federal Government on how best to address those challenges and
reposition FUL as an international and quality-driven higher institution of
learning, not only in Nigeria but to the entire world.
In his remarks, the Chairman of
the Visitation Panel, Ambassador Godknows Igali told the Unions that they were emissaries
of President Muhammadu Buhari, and that it was necessary to enlist the maximum
cooperation of the Unions if the essence of their visitation was going to be
realized. "We are here because President Muhammadu Buhari wants to address
the problems of educational system in Nigeria, to see how the federal universities
can be better, and how the Nigerian students can be truly certified both in
character and learning," the Chairman noted.
In their separate presentations,
the Unions highlighted some of the challenges facing the University such as
inadequate infrastructure, corruption, mutilation of staff allowances, among
others. The Alumni Association requested that all best graduating students be
given automatic employment in the University.
The students, through their
various representatives, decried insecurity and infrastructural deficiencies
and therefore, called for serious security arrangements to cover the two
campuses of the University (Adankolo and Felele Campuses). They told the Visitation
Panel to help secure the Felele Campus (Permanent Site) that has no perimeter
fencing in order to forestall criminal activities, as well as help in
facilitating the provision of some basic amenities before the students were finally
moved to the Permanent Site.
Earlier during the meeting, the
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olayemi Akinwumi commended the students for
conducting themselves properly, adding that the Students' Union had been a solid
link between the Management and the students of the University.