Onimawo: Positioning AAU for Leadership through ICT, Infrastructural Devt

Benjie Ihenyen highlights the unprecedented reforms of Prof. Ignatius Onimawo in his third year as the Vice-Chancellor, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, to attain his vision of making AAU one of the best state universities and one of the ten best in Nigeria

At the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, the giant strides of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ignatius Onimawo can be seen in vaious projects like e-senate, e-learning, computer-based examinations, e-results, e-transcript, e-admissions and ground breaking research initiatives and actions, thus the institution is fast attaining the vice-chancellor’s vision.

Upon assumption of office on May 11, 2016, Onimawo had said: “My vision is to make the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma a first-class university that would be rated as the best state university and among the best 10 in Nigeria in knowledge and skills for service delivery to the society.”

The vice-chancellor set for himself the task of repositioning governance, deepening infrastructural development, attaining academic excellence, deployment of ICT to every aspect of the university administration, improving staff and students’ welfare and the provision of adequate security within and around the campus. All these are coming to pass.

Three years into his tenure, AAU is reputed for its unique deployment and application ICT in every segment of the day-to-day running of the institution. Onimawo has infused a new model in lecturing and examination in the university.

The AAU was once notorious for cultism to the extent that it got the attention of international media like the American-based CNN over a decade ago. Today, that negative image is history.
“We came together and said things cannot remain the same,” said Onimawo. “So we came up with strategies and solutions to curb the menace. Through these efforts and the by the grace of God, the issue of cultism has been addressed.

“We have a good relationship with our students and our staff unions have also been very cooperative and we have had a smooth working relationship.” he said. To ensure that such practices are banished, he resorted to the use of technology.

The first step was to introduce computer-based examinations which had checked many vices associated with examination malpractices. Vouching for the workability of the system, he said, “when the students go to write exam, as soon as they finish writing, all they need to do is to press the submit button and their score will immediately pop up on the screen. It is not a matter of go home and we will process your result.

“When we did that for all 100 level and 200 level courses, we discovered that the issue of missing results was completely eliminated. The issue of some lecturers expecting some students to bring money before they do their job was completely eliminated and that has brought a lot of sanity to the university system.

“We started this initiative with 100 and 200 level students because these are people that can easily be cajoled. They do not know their left from their right. In fact, when they come in, people can tell them, ‘if you do not do this or do that, you cannot pass’, but now they have realised that they can pass and that all they need do is to read their books; their exams will be written on computer and their result will be right there on their screen.”

An elated Onimawo said glowingly: “There is no other federal or state university in Nigeria that has been able to do this, but we are doing it here and that is one reason we talk about making AAU the best state university in the country.”

The university’s e-library which accommodates students for computer-based examination currently boasts of 1,300 computers which are grossly inadequate. But reprieve is coming with the donation of an examination centre by the Tony Elumelu Foundation which will soon be equipped with 1,000 computers in addition to others from other alumni in the diaspora. The ICT has also helped in the seamless collection of school fees.
“In the past, we had what we called ‘Task Force on School Fees’, they move from one exam hall to another, asking students for their school fees receipt.

“This new ICT method has helped us to collect our school fees with ease because if you login with your computer, without school fees, you cannot access the questions. So apart from the fact that it has brought sanity to our academics, it also has helped us in the collection of school fees,” he said.

According to him, the ICT innovation is also being used in senate screening of final exams and it has helped in collation of results, in cutting costs and better management of resources. “You know, the university is not only about academics and students. Infrastructure is also a major part of it. When you go to a university, the first thing that catches your attention is the infrastructure on ground and AAU has suffered in that area over the years.”

Besides, the university has effectively deployed ICT in conducting students’ union election. The last two SUG elections in AAU were conducted electronically. There is a dashboard and as the votes are being cast, they are displayed on the screen and students can see who is leading and how all candidates are faring.

“It is not a question of go and count result as everything is being displayed as the voting takes place and all the candidates’ agents are there with their laptops and are monitoring it. Whoever wins, we already know and we have done this two consecutive times now. There has been no issue, very transparent and we have been telling our colleagues from other universities to also use this method,” said Onimawo.

He disclosed that the use of electronic voting system in SUG elections has stemmed the tide of killings, vandalism and insecurity on the campus. “Students don’t need to go and queue up anywhere to vote. All you need is your smart phone. Once you login to the portal, you cast your vote and once you vote, it counts. You can’t vote twice from the same phone. We developed the app here and that is what we have been using for our students’ union election”, he said.

Strides in infrastructural development
Onimawo is also investing extravagantly in infrastructural facilities. Determined to put an end to the ramshackle buildings that once dotted the campus, Onimawo wrote, pushed and negotiated with federal agencies, foreign donor bodies to access funds to upgrade the facilities on campus. As a result, the university was able to access intervention funds from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and other public institutions like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Universities Commission (NUC), individuals and faith-based organisations, as well as alumni bodies both home and abroad.

“For you to be able to access TETFund, you must be able to show what you have done with previous funds you accessed. We passed their criteria and they gave us opportunity to access their funds and we have also completed the building of Physical Science Faculty. As we were doing this, we were also able to, through some contacts, access special intervention from TETFund. Last year, only six universities were selected to benefit from them to build and AAU was one of them. If TETFund gives you money and you don’t spend it well, they will not be encouraged to talk to you if you come to them for another intervention. The speed with which we completed the Faculty of Life Sciences made it easier for us to access funds for Faculty of Physical Sciences. We have about 33 projects on-going and they are at different stages of completion. We have lecture theatres going on, and other constructions scattered all over the place. So infrastructurally, we have shaped the phase of AAU and we are still working. We are also very lucky that NDDC came and started helping us as well. Shell came and donated an ICT centre to us. Tony Elumelu came and donated a project to us as well.

“We were also able to access needs assessment and that gave us opportunity to upgrade some of our facilities and build some few structures. We are lucky that Ambrose Alli University also benefitted from the 2018 High Impact Assessment Intervention. We are building two new Faculties of Education and Faculty of Management Sciences. We are also building the Department of Mass Communication.”

The vice-chancellor has meticulously deployed strategic initiatives in driving his vision for the university. This includes deepening research and teaching to make the university a centre of academic excellence.
Harping on capacity building for the teaching staff, Onimawo said: “As we speak now, we have a lot of money in TETFund set aside to train our lecturers in the best universities in the world. Last year about five people are outside the country now. The money is there. As for research, we have about six clusters. The Director of Research and Training is doing a lot of jobs. We have had seminars on how people can write proposals that can win grants. We are making progress in the area of research.”

Provision of adequate hostel accommodation has been a herculean task and intractable challenge in Nigerian universities. Out of the over 27,000 student population of AAU, only about 4,000 is accommodated in the hostels. Propelled by the quest to address the deficit, Onimawo has triggered fundamental reforms in that direction by bringing in private partners with whom a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed to provide more hostels for students.

The Registrar, AAU, Chris Adamaigbo said of the vice- chancellor: “He has that rare capacity to listen to all shades of opinion; that is one quality that has endeared his administration to the students and staff. The ability of the VC to accommodate diversity of ideas, listen to others and build a consensus based on consultation.”

According to Professor Julius Azelama, the Director, Centre for Strategic and Government Studies, the VC is very aggressive in sourcing for funds. “The governing council is also on the same page with the VC since he came on board and TETFund is happy with the university because of short period for project execution and transparency,” he said.

The Head, Department of Accounting, Dr. Omorogie Nosa said: “The vice-chancellor is much focused. Dormant TETFund now releases funds to AAU through his efforts and properly utilised. At AAU, it is now a case of projects, projects and more projects all over the campus. He is dynamic, innovative and creative. He has revamped our internally generated revenue.”

A Biochemistry student, Tessy Edokpu, over joyed with the development in the university, said the atmosphere of learning is improving every day.

With two more years in his tenure, Onimawo said he would want to be remembered as the vice-chancellor that propelled AAU to its peak in terms of service delivery and academics. “I want to be remembered as the vice-chancellor that moved AAU’s ranking from 56th position where I met it to either second or third in Nigeria and of course number one state university. I think we can achieve it.

“I also want to be remembered as the vice-chancellor that brought about e-senate to Ambrose Alli University. It has never happened before, that you conduct your senate meetings without papers. I want to be remembered for being the vice-chancellor that developed the university infrastructure.

“I want to be remembered as the vice-chancellor that did the fencing of our lands because we are talking about perimeter fencing now and I want to be remembered as the vice-chancellor that had all the university’s programmes accredited before I leave.” For all his accomplishments, Onimawo is not asking for too much.