Reflections on UNIMAID at 40

The University of Maiduguri in North-east Nigeria is 40-year-old. Justifiably, the community and its well wishers have found reasons to celebrate on this milestone; at least, if not for any other reason, but to thank the Almighty for making it possible for the university to survive the Boko Haram onslaught on Borno. It is also […]

The University of Maiduguri in North-east Nigeria is 40-year-old. Justifiably, the community and its well wishers have found reasons to celebrate on this milestone; at least, if not for any other reason, but to thank the Almighty for making it possible for the university to survive the Boko Haram onslaught on Borno. It is also an opportunity for the community to reflect on its 40-year journey as a centre of learning in the Sahel; look into its history; assess its current standing and; visualise on its bearing in the age of digitization and increased competition amidst mounting financial and managerial challenges. In all respects, Unimaid has lived up to the dream of its founders of developing to be a truly national as well as an international centre of learning built on unique academic traditions and enlivened by the spirit of robust tolerance and accommodation for diversity and multiculturalism, except, of course, for some ugly happenings that almost undermined the beauty, boisterousness and excellence of the campus at some critical moments in the past. However, like Nigeria, the university had after each turbulent period emerged stronger.
Unimaid is one of the second generation universities established in 1975 by the Federal Government (FGN). Its establishment was contained in the third National Development Plan (1975-1980) along with six others in Calabar, Jos, Ilorin, Kano, Port Harcourt and Sokoto, to add to the existing five in Ibadan, Lagos, Nsukka, Ife, Zaria and Benin.
The university took off on a providential note having been handed over the site, facilities and the staff of the North East College of Arts and Science (NECAS) in Maiduguri. NECAS was an intermediary College specially established by the North Eastern State government under Late Brigadier Musa Usman in 1971 to prepare the indigenes to qualify for Degree admissions in the existing universities. After negotiations, the state government under Colonel Muhammadu Buhari handed over NECAS to the Federal Government through the National Universities Commission led by its Executive Secretary, Dr Jibril Aminu, on April 1, 1976; thus the transformation from NECAS to UNIMAID.
A Vice Chancellor, Professor Essien Udom, from the Political Science Department of the University of  Ibadan was earlier appointed in October 1975; and with the takeover, he carried on the responsibility of implementing the provisions of the agreement governing the transition. Accordingly, the Vice Chancellor worked with Dr Jibril Aminu at the NUC to ensure that existing staff of NECAS were assessed and placed in appropriate positions, the curricula of the programmes upgraded and the entire transition finalised in record time for the takeoff of the university in 1976 with sixty-four foundation students in the Faculties of Arts, Education, Science, Social Science and Law. Today, four decades after, the university has expanded its intake to more than 30,000 students across two dozens and more faculties and schools, centres and units.
In its four decades of existence, Unimaid has experienced phenomenal academic and physical growth and development that enabled it to live up to the vision of its founders and the creed of its mission. Indeed, I regard Unimaid as a truly national university with composite alumni all over the country and beyond; and in the past, with staff recruited from all over the world. And, irrespective of its distant location from the major centres of activities in the country, it has been able to create a niche that has distinguished it and its graduates in many respects.
Sometimes, I wonder how the North-eastern part of Nigeria would have fared in the national context if Unimaid was not established in 1975. But thank God, it came on board. It democratized access to quality higher education in the zone and provided enormous human resources in the zone and beyond. Over time, it provided countless scholars that left to start or develop several tertiary institutions in the zone. As at now, almost all the universities in the zone are being headed by Maiduguri alumni. On a score, Unimaid has justified its existence in the North-east as well as served greater Nigeria with credit.
The success of the Unimaid journey was possible because of the vision and deep thinking of the Gowon/Murtala/Obasanjo governments; the solid foundational campus provided by the North-eastern state government under Brig Musa Usman and Col Muhammadu Buhari; Principal officers of NECAS like Hamidu Alkali and Prof Chimere Ikoku; pioneer Vice Chancellor, Prof Essien Udom(late) and subsequent VCs: Professors Jibril Aminu, Nur Alkali (late), Umaru Shehu, Njidda Gadzama, Abubakar Mustapha, JD Amin, Mala Daura and Ibrahim Njodi.
Without doubt, Maiduguri has been lucky with quality leadership all through. In addition, it has enjoyed an excellent relation with the host community. Equally, when Nigeria was buoyant, the institution attracted high level academics from different parts of the world and embarked on an ambitious staff development programme comparable to none in the country. And now, with the generous support of the TETFUND, the campus is growing faster in the implementation of its academic and physical master plans for higher capacity and quality in the midst of rising demand.
However, the story of Unimaid is not all about sweet success alone. Like any other human institution, it has, at various moments in the last 40 years, experienced its own brand of challenges that the campus addressed and soldiered on. With the lessons of all of what happened particularly in the recent past, some of which battered the image as well as decimated the staff list of the university, the current management should be conscious in acknowledging and addressing some of the issues that border on things like cheap influence peddling and factional intrigues by so called favourite staff which creates alienation and frustration among the general staff and; the long-standing negative tradition of delayed postgraduate studies graduation. I am confident that the management under Professor Njodi, a fellow that I know very well has the capacity, zeal and sincerity of purpose to take Unimaid to a greater height. For me, I shall remain grateful that I was made in UNIMAID. And, I can be sure, too, so it is with other alumni. Happy Birthday, UNIMAID. 
Professor Umaru A. Pate, is the Dean, Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano