The immediate past Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Professor Emenike Ejiogu, has disclosed that the Faculty has been positioned to be economically self-sustaining to guarantee seamless running of its affairs.
He said that the Faculty has upgraded and expanded its auto mechanic workshop to serve as a revenue-generating organ of the Faculty.
Professor Ejiogu who is also the Director, Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Power and Energy Development, ACE-SPED made the disclosure during the Valedictory Board Meeting and handover ceremony to the new Dean of the Faculty at the Faculty’s Drawing Hall on Thursday.
The don who equally presented his two-year deanship scorecard during the meeting, further said that the journal is now ranked by scopus/scimago which is one of the two top-most journal ranking organizations in the world, adding that it would help to shore up the revenue base of the Faculty.
“It is a thing of joy that after 24 months of piloting the affairs of the Faculty of Engineering, UNN, we have gathered here to look at my scorecard as the Dean of the Faculty, and that of my Associate Dean, and Heads of Departments who served with me, including the officers in the Dean’s Office, including the Faculty Officer who is also the Secretary to the Faculty Board. I am glad with the support I received from the Faculty Board members, both teaching and non-teaching staff. It is my hope that the next administration would even take the Faculty to a higher level.
“We have positioned the Faculty to be financially-self sustaining. We have upgraded, expanded and refurbished the auto mechanic workshop and we are going to bring in more equipment. That would serve as a source of income to the Faculty. Additionally, the Faculty Journal which has been in publication since 1975, is now ranked by scopus/scimago which is one of the two top-most journal ranking organizations in the world for the first time in history. Our journal is now indexed in Scopus Scimago. By that, there would be more articles coming from all over the world for publication in the journal because it is now regarded as a high level academic journal. As at today, we have a balance of N7,000,000 in the account. We have positioned the Faculty in such a way that any incoming Dean would not spend his personal money to run the activities of the Faculty.
“Our third source of income is the NLNG Laboratory which the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas company donated to us. There are equipment there that we can use to engage in commercial testing and characterization of materials for industries. In addition to those, the Faculty has resolved to establish a Faculty Consultancy Unit, where all the departments will cooperate to be a consulting unit. We hope that, that also would be a source of income to the Faculty,” he said.
In his remarks the new Dean of the Faculty, Professor Ikechukwu Ezeme, pledged to remain committed to consolidating on the achievements of his predecessors.
He said that plans are underway to make the auto mechanic workshop, a one-stop workshop in the University. He further solicited for the support of the staff and students of the Faculty , pledging to run an open door policy for the benefit of the Faculty.
