•Produces 7 First Class graduates
By Gabriel Dike
The chancellor of Christopher University (UNICHRIS), Mowe, Ogun State, Chief Christopher Ezeh, has made a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to extend the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) grants to private universities.
Chief Ezeh, also the proprietor of UNICHRIS, made the call at the university’s first, second and third combined convocation, which attracted stakeholders from far and near.
At the event, Ezeh was installed as the chancellor of UNICHRIS, Chief Anthony Idigbe, the guest speaker, was appointed as visiting Law professor of the university and 90 students were conferred with their degrees.
In his speech, Ezeh said private universities, like other enterprises in other sectors of the economy, face a number of operational challenges.
Ezeh said the extension of grants to private varsities was desirable and long overdue and that it was on record that they absorbed a large number of candidates seeking admission into universities, thus lifting the burden off the already oversubscribed public universities.
He said, in spite of the skepticism that greeted the emergence of private universities on the nation’s educational landscape, private universities have since their emergence in early 2000 contributed substantially to the supply of the needed middle-level manpower in the economy.
“Some of these universities, within the short period of their existence, are making waves and have achieved international visibility through remarkable records of scientific research breakthroughs. In these respects, private universities have paid their dues and rightly deserve federal government recognition and assistance.”
The chancellor lauded the federal government for keeping faith with private universities as critical stakeholders in the education sector.
He said a lot has been done through the National Universities Commission in terms of curriculum review and update and sustenance of parity in standards in private and public universities.
Ezeh observed that despite the challenges, Christopher University has made giant strides in birthing new programmes, infrastructure development, and maintaining high academic standards and discipline among staff and students.
In his remarks, UNICHRIS Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oyelana Olatunji commended the vision of the founder, Chief Ezeh for his commitment to quality university education, infrastructural development, and fatherly role in nurturing the institution.
Prof. Olatunj described the graduates as heroes and champions, who have gone through three to four years of rigour of study and have made the roll call of success and excellence.
His words: “My dear students, you have been brewed and nurtured as change agents, and we expect your change impact to be profound in all sectors of our national life, and the World in general. You must continue to seek more advanced knowledge available within your chosen fields of endeavours.”
The VC explained that the university would graduate 90 students for 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022 academic sessions, which met the minimum academic standards required for graduation.
Olatunji said the university produced seven First Class graduates with the highest Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.73 going to Esther Anyalewechi from the Department of Psychology.
“By simple percentage, we have combined records of First Class (15%), Second Class Upper (45 %), Second Class Lower (28 %) and Third class/Pass degree (12 %), “ he stated.
On accreditation, he said 15 courses were approved by the NUC and the university intends to introduce new programmes in the medical field, and engineering courses while the Faculty of Law has started with the admission of students last year.
He also revealed that the university would soon establish Postgraduate School, adding already, a 12-man panel has been set up to midwife the PG school.