NUC accreditation Panel Visits FUHSA, Commends  Infrastructural development

By Mohammed Kaka Misau

Accreditation Panel from the National Universities Commission (NUC) has yesterday visited Federal University of Health Sciences Azare (FUHSA), in Azare , Katagum Local Government Area of Bauchi for the accreditation of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Dentistry, Nursing, Radiography and Human Nutrition courses.

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, the Chairman of the Accreditation Panel, Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai said Federal University of Health Sciences Azare is among the six federal university of health sciences across the country, one in each geopolitical zone.

“This is the first one we are coming to for accreditation, and from the time it was established barely three years ago, I must tell you that FUHSA is the first among all the six federal university established by the federal government of Nigeria”, he said .

Prof. Yakasai who disclosed that he was part and parcel of the conception of all the new universities, commended federal university of health sciences Azare for having permanent and visiting staff as well as those on sabbatical leave.

According to him, the university is capable of handling the courses going by the staff strength and infrastructural development.

“You know, when you have such new universities, they may not have all staff from the beginning but so far they have been able to have a lot of permanent staff and a good percentage also from the visiting. So, these two combined, both visiting, permanent and sabbatical, at least from our point of view they have adequate staff to run this program of MBBS”, he declared.

Prof Yakasai who was astonished by what he saw on ground, said, “I also have observed plans for future development, I have been to the new site of the hospital, I have seen new complexes in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in general surgery, in intensive care unit which are more than what anybody has seen in other hospitals”.

The Chairman of the accreditation Panel Yakasai further explained that university of health sciences Azare has the required conducive classrooms, lecture theaters and auditoriums to operationalize the programmes.

“I have seen more than 114 offices, I couldn’t go round all of them but I feel any staff coming there will have somewhere to stay”, Prof. Yakasai stated.

The accreditation panel Chairman said after interaction with the students, he was able to inform them that the bases of training is discipline.

“I told them that they should obey the regulations of the university, avoid examination malpractice, riot or going into unionism to enable them be the first students that would graduate and be our own ambassadors both in Nigeria and outside”, Prof Yakasai recalled.

He appealed to the management of the university to ensure that they work as a team to succeed and take the university to higher level.

On his part, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Bala Mohammed Audu appreciated the NUC accreditation panel led by its Chairman, Prof Ibrahim Yakasai for the official visit.

“I appreciate them for finding time to come here for the accreditation of five academic programs of MBBS, dentistry, Nursing, Radiography and Human Nutrition”, the Vice Chancellor said.

He expressed delight that the accreditation team members were well composed, very objective and very detailed in giving stronger observations of the good things so far achieved and what need to be added to improve the quality of the university’s training.

“When we started the university, we looked at what some of the federal universities of health sciences that were created before us were doing and we learned a lot from that, and we came back to the drawing board, we invited experts from the neighboring universities that have successfully established these programs, we drew up our curriculum, we drew up our teaching modalities, we drew up our equipments, and this helped us to come up with a very robust training program for our staff”, he said.

The Vice Chancellor who said a lot of support was received from Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund), noted that the assistance helped them in remodeling the structures to fulfill the purpose of establishing the university.

“We also had brand new projects that were purposed-built to ensure that we deliver the best quality of health education”, Prof Bala added.

He appreciated the support of the immediate past education minister, Mal Adamu Adamu and the immediate past Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof Adamu Rasheed who helped in giving the university management the spirit of excellence to reach the present stage of been ahead of most of the other federal university of health sciences.

The VC who also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for sustaining the progress and development of the university, also thanked former President Muhammadu Buhari for having the vision and wisdom to establish the university in Azare.

While commending the pioneer staff of the university for working tremendously to ensure the success of the Institution, the VC said the students are all pioneers that have endured a lot of challenges of starting up in a new place with patience, dedication and commitment to their studies.