10:43 Joseph
Obasanjo; a troublesome student at NOUN – VC
The
Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN),
Professor Vincent Ado Tenebe, on Monday gave a glimpse into former
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s time as a student of the university,
saying that he was very troublesome.
Prof. Tenebe, who commended
Chief Obasanjo for giving a new lease of life to NOUN in 2002 during his
administration as president, recalled that as a student, he (Obasanjo)
used to call his lecturers at midnight on academic matters, but noted
that at the end, he did very well to pass his courses in Christian
Religious Theology.
The Vice Chancellor made this known during an
interactive session organised by the Kaduna State Council of Nigeria
Union of Journalists (NUJ).
According to him, “President
Obasanjo, when he became a student which he did by example, resuscitated
the university. A good history of the university was that this
university came into existence by an act of the National Assembly during
the reign of President Shehu Shagari in 1982, unfortunately before the
university could establish itself, the Military regime that took over
suspended the act and that was the reason the university was in dormancy
until when civilian rule under Obasanjo came on board and re cooperated
the university in 2002 while in 2003, we started our academic
programmes.
“When Obasanjo became a student of the
institution, he thought that it was an easy thing to do. When he was
given all the courses, he realised it wasn’t easy and so he had to defer
his admission. He said I would not take part in this until I finished
my tenure as President and so he never studied while he was the
President until he completed his tenure, then he started the course. He
did a Post Graduate Diploma in Christian Theology. He was a very
troublesome student because he will not start calling until 12 mid night
and keep you online until about 2.00a.m.
“Every time he
gives us trouble, we pray that he graduates of which he did and his
certificate was valid. In the course of his study, Obasanjo said he
wanted to sit among the students” and quoted the former president as
saying, “I want to do the same thing others are doing.”
On if the examiners were not under any form of pressure while marking the former President’s script, Prof. Tenebe remarked:
“Obasanjo
was a very brilliant student and I can tell you there were lots of
controversies when his papers were being marked. I won’t disclose the
secret of how our papers are marked but it is marked from Port Harcourt
to Lagos, Kano, Maiduguri and the markers will never know whose paper
they are marking. So the old man is intelligent, his certificate is
valid and was done according rules and regulations of the Nigerian
University Commission (NUC).”
On accreditation of courses in
the university, NOUN VC said they had subjected 31 of their programmes
to accreditation and had 30 of them, while the one that was denied
accreditation was getting ready for the accreditation as NUC had gone
through their book and certified that their Nursing programme was up to
standard.
“On that note, they’ve allowed us to graduate students
and students of nursing also participated in our convocation. They
graduated and were given our certificate. So if anybody is holding the
certificate of NOUN as a graduate of Nursing, any employer can confirm
that from the NUC.
“Talking about school of Law, it is one of the youngest schools in NOUN and we are yet to graduate our students”, he said.
“Some
of our students are now getting to the final year, and like I told you
earlier we have gone through the NUC accreditation and they have passed
us. Now we are preparing for the Legal Council and Education and we are
going to do that in conjunction with the NUC. And that I will continue
to say that our law students are equal to the task, they can compete
with any law students from any university in the world not only
Nigeria.”
“ I can assure you that by the time we will present our
curriculum to the Legal Council and Education, I am confident that we
are going to pass. As I speak to you there is what is called National
Competition that all universities that have faculty of law compete every
year. NOUN is currently the champion. I told you I have five VCs of
other universities among my law students and an experienced Monarch,” he
said.
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