The Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, has disclosed that over 720 individuals have held the position of vice chancellor in the Nigeria University System (NUS) since 1960, and 38 out of them have been women.

Prof Ochefu disclosed this in Abuja at an event to unveil the 60th anniversary committee.

He said even though a number of them are deceased, many are still serving in various universities across the country.

He said the Committee, which held its first meeting in 1962 composed of Vice-Chancellors of Federal, States, and Private Universities in Nigeria are set to celebrate 60 + 1 years of their existence and has been been working very quietly in the background in improving the university system.

Prof Ochefu said the major initiative of policies the education system has today are from the meetings and inputs of the CVC such as harmonization of academic calendar, NYSC , JAMB, improving of welfare of the staff of the university staff, predatory journals to promote good journal practices in university system and the minimum academic benchmark and core curriculum of university.

He said the university system went through so many challenges ranging from funding and access but was able to overcome some and that celebrating 60 years was a milestone achievement as water had passed through the bridges but was able to overcome.

The don however, blamed poor research funding on the reason why Nigerians, especially from the intellectual community don’t win the Nobel Laureate prizes, saying, for Nigerians to feature in Nobel prize nomination, there must be a major breakthrough in cutting-edge research.

He said: “To win a Nobel prize is a product of sustained and rigorous research in the academic discipline, it is not a one-off thing. The average age for a Nobel prize winner is from 50 years, which means that the person would have been doing research for at least 10 years to make a major breakthrough in his area of specialization.”

Meanwhile, the 60th anniversary scheduled to hold on Monday in Abuja would have President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima as distinguished guests of honour, while the President of Nigerian Academy of Science, Prof. Ekanem Braide is billed to be the Keynote Speaker. (Daily Trust)

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