I’ve Kept Faith With DELSU In Five Years- Egwunyenga

By Joshua Erubami

Vice-Chancellor of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Prof. Andy Egwunyenga, Tuesday, took a critical assessment of his activities in the last five years and declared that he has fulfilled his promise to lead, inspire, advance and transform the state-owned tertiary institution.

Briefing journalists at an elaborate press conference organised to mark the university’s 16^th convocation ceremony, Egwunyenga said his administration worked assiduously to place the university in an enviable position in the comity of universities worldwide.

According to him, DELSU has made giant strides in infrastructural development, invaluable research output, improved global rankings and increased admission quota for its teeming students.

The Vice-Chancellor, whose tenure ends on November 30, explained that his administration also focused on boosting staff morale by addressing injustice and promoting workplace harmony.

He said: “At the inception of this administration, I made a solemn pledge to lead, inspire, advance and transform Delta State University to emerge as one of the best state universities in Nigeria.

“This vision, which I shared with my colleagues in the Senate and the university community at large with all sense of humility, has been largely achieved.

“We have provided high-quality teaching to our dear students.

“We have focused on improving the morale of staff by creating harmony, addressing genuine cases of injustice and building a motivated workforce.

“We have expanded the infrastructure for teaching and learning and created new academic programmes”.

Besides securing a significant increase in the university’s admission quota, Egwunyenga also observed that his administration achieved a historic milestone by attaining full accreditation for the university’s 83 academic programmes, adding that adequate preparations have been made to commence open and distance learning at DELSU.

Similarly, he disclosed that his administration established eight new academic programmes and unbundled the Department of Mass Communication into six independent programmes to be domiciled in the new Faculty of Communication and Media Studies.

On the global recognition of the university, the V-C noted that DELSU is in the top 10 per cent of universities in Nigeria, adding that the institution was ranked in the 61-70^th bracket of universities in Sub-Saharan Africa by the Times Higher Education in 2023.

He added that “in the highly prestigious SciVal ranking of universities in Nigeria based on total number of articles in Scopus between 2000 and 2023, DELSU came 22 overall, number 3 among all state universities and number one among state universities in the South-South and South-East”.

Flanked by principal officers of the university, the professor of parasitology and public health happily announced that the press conference was being held in the ultramodern Faculty of Management Sciences built by his administration within 11 months, adding that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori will commission other numerous projects completed by his administration on Saturday.

The V-C also announced that the 16^th convocation ceremony will feature the conferment of honours on Prof. Sam Oyovbaire and Prof. Chukwuemeka Aloamaka for their excellent service to the university and humanity.

 According to him, Oyovbaire will be awarded Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) in recognition of his distinguished services to DELSU having served as a member and Chairman of the university’s governing council, while Aloamaka, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of DELSU, will be invested as emeritus professor of Human Physiology.

Meanwhile, Egwunyenga has said that DELSU has recorded numerous worthy feats for which the university community should be thankful to God.