The Federal University Dutse (FUD), Jigawa State, has conferred a bachelor degree on 2,172 graduates of various disciplines during a 6th and 7th combined convocation held at the school convocation ground.
Meanwhile, the school also inaugurated its 2nd Chancellor of the University, His Majesty, King W.S. Joshua, Igbugburu X, (CON), JP, the Ebenanawei of Bomo Kingdom and the Pioneer Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Council.
Speaking during the ceremony, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Abdulkarim Saboda Muhammad, said “the 5th convocation ceremony took place in 2020 before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. After that, we had a prolonged ASUU strike which distorted the university calendar and made it difficult to organize the subsequent convocation ceremony”.
The vice chancellor explained that 1058 graduates were for the 2019/2020 academic season with 38 first class, 321 second class upper division, 564 second class lower division and 135 with third class lower.
“For the 2020/2021 academic season, a total of 1814 to be awarded with bachelor degree in which 36 with first class, 515 with second class upper division, 946 second class lower division and 317 with third class lower.
“We also have two (2) Ph.D, forty-seven (47) M.Sc, three hundred and seventy-six (376) Masters and one hundred and eighty-nine (189) Postgraduate Diploma graduates”.
He said that the university has recorded remarkable achievements in the area of Academic, Research and Innovation.
The Vice Chancellor noted that some of the achievement include the ranking as the overall best federal university in the North-West geopolitical zone in 2021 by the National Universities Commission (NUC), 1st in Nigeria for quality of researchers and research innovation by Scimago, Academic Ranking in 2021 and in 2022, Scimago also ranked FUD the best centre for mathematical science in Africa.
“In a related development, the 2022 Ethics and Compliance Scorecard by ICPC ranked Federal University Dutse 1st among Federal Universities, 2nd among all MDAs under Federal Ministry of Education and 7th overall among all MDAs nationwide with a score of 81.85 compliance. The score was based on performance in the categories of Management Culture and Structure (30%), Administrative system (30%) and Financial Management System (40%)”.
Professor Abdulkarim Sabo Muhammad added that “In 2022, the University successfully secured re-accreditation of 21 programmes from the National Universities Commission (NUC). The University also got accreditation of its Pre-Clinical MBBS Programme at the first instance after hosting the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and the re-accreditation of the Rasheed Shekoni Teaching Hospital to serve as the University’s Teaching Hospital.
“Towards the end of 2023, the University also got NUC’s approval to mount the B.Nsc. Nursing Science, B.Sc. Public Health and B.Sc. Environmental Health Sciences. The University has commenced the construction of the Faculty of Law building and all things being equal, the Faculty of Law will take off next academic session, In Sha Allah. Plans are also under way for the establishment of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, MOUs signed with Morgan State University USA, University technology Mara Malaysia, University Malaysia Kelantan, Skyline University Kano for Academic and Research.
The Vice Chancellor stated further that, “The University Library has over 27,000 books and Over 500,000 e-Resources and 1000 journals in different fields. We have also installed servers and more than 150 new computers in the library so that students can access electronic information resources in the form of e-Books and e-Journals both on and offline.”
He therefore expressed appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinibu, minister of education and Jigawa state Governor, Malam Umar Namadi, for their support on the academic activities in the university.