Erstwhile Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Julius A Okojie OON, on Monday 1st August 2016 handed over the affairs of the Commission to Acting Executive Secretary Professor Chiedu Felix Mafiana as directed by the Honorable Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu. This followed his successful completion of a record 10 year tenure, the second in the history of the NUC. The first Executive Secretary to set this record was Prof. Idris Abdulkadir (1986-1996).
In a brief and solemn ceremony during which he presented his ‘Hand over Notes’ and the NUC flag as an instrument of office to the Acting ES, Professor Okojie said the he relied on the two principles of ‘Fear of God and Love for neighbour’ in the conduct of all his affairs living one day at a time. The former ES expressed satisfaction that the NUC has come of age while noting that under his watch the NUC had applied its laws creditably well to ensure an effective regulation of the Nigerian University System (NUS) he noted that ‘it will be immodest to talk about my achievement when we have all worked as a team’. Some of the achievements, Professor Okojie said, included the establishment of 12 new Universities, the introduction of new programmes such as Mechatronics and Gerontology, the review of Post Graduate programmes among others.
He described Professor Mafiana as an enigma who had done well in helping to drive the System. He urged the Management to stay on the side of ‘Love and Truth as the burden of hatred is too heavy to bear’.
In his acceptance speech, Professor Mafiana promised that the NUC will continue to regulate with courage nad that stakeholders will be carried along in the conduct of its affairs. He called on the Management team to extend the same level of cooperation to him for the period he would be ‘steering the ship’ of the Commission.
In a vote of thanks, the Deputy Executive Secretary, Mallam Ibrahim Dan’Iya said three traits that shaped Professor Okojie in the past 10 years were; courage, visionary leadership and being a team builder.