Professor Isaac Adewole
The Vice Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Isaac Adewole on Friday lamented the high rate at which students of the institution were being advised to withdraw due to poor academic performance in their various courses of study.
The university don said this while matriculating 2,671 students out of the total number of 41,367 candidates who applied to the premier university for 2012/2013 academic session.
Prof. Adewole said that at the last academic session, 75 students in 100 level were asked to withdraw from the university for their failure to meet the minimum academic requirements to proceed to the next level, which he said was disturbing.
He also lamented the underfunding of university system in the country, disclosing that for the past three years, the university has supported the Halls of Residence with about N250m because the Federal government has failed to provide funds to maintain the halls.
He said, “Last year, in particular, the university spent about N100 million on the installation of inverter power back-up system in the Halls. The inverters provided power when there is power outage. We carried out turn-around maintenance (TAM) on the 33 KVA sub-station and purchased and installed two additional 2MVA generators in the university.
“We also procured and deployed mobile generators for the illumination of five Lecture Theatres of all-night reading. The university now enjoys fairly regular electricity and quality water supply. The university is also planning to spend another N54million to improve the reading rooms and common rooms in all Halls of Residence”.
“The rate of failure was highest in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry which recorded 18 withdrawals from the faculty in one session alone. Numbers of attritions were also recorded in the other faculties. I wish to therefore reminded you that it is difficult to gain admission into the University of Ibadan, as you would have realized but pretty easy leaving it owing to poor academic performance and involvement in unlawful acts”, Adewole explained.
The VC affirmed that despite the institution’s numerous challenges, it would continue to ensure that students are exposed to quality education in a more conducive atmosphere.
He however noted that students should be prepared to pay sundry fees to the school authorities for the things they enjoyed free of charge as the government is not living up to its expectation in terms of funding.
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