ASR Africa CEO Tells Why Adamawa Varsity Was Picked For N250m Education Grant
Ubon Udoh, the Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of the Abdul Samad Rabiu (ASR) Africa initiative has revealed why the Adamawa State University (ADSU) was selected as one of the beneficiaries of its annual N5.5 Billion grant to twenty-two (22) Universities under the ASR Africa’s Tertiary Education Grant Scheme (TEGS).
Annually, each university that scales through what is widely acknowledged as a “rigorous process” is gifted N250m to executive an agreed project.
The foundation founded by champion across different sectors of the Nigerian economy described as “one Nigerian that has really devoted his wealth towards uplifting social development of Nigeria“, Abdul Samad Rabiu started the construction of N250million worth of ultra-modern lecture theatre and other facilities at the Adamawa State University on Friday, May 3, 2024, in fulfilling the gains to the higher institution of learning as one of this year’s beneficiaries.
Speaking on how ADSU emerged as one of the beneficiaries, Ubon Udoh disclosed that “a lot of universities applied for the grant, we had at least 200 applications for the grant, so we have a stringent, tight process of selection. We look at a lot of criteria, like the vision of the leadership, the management, we look at what type of project they have attracted, do they have other projects that they are implementing.
“We look at the rankings, do they have NUC (National Universities Commission) ranking? the global ranking? we also look at the performance of the university, academic performance, institutional performance, and management performance and then run these through what we call a prioritization filter that gives us a score, which we use to assess the university. Adamawa State University scored very high”.
Providing added information, the ASR Africa Initiative Chief Executive Officer who spoke in an interview at the groundbreaking ceremony disclosed that, the fact that ADSU was over-ran and occupied by Boko Haram also played a role in the institution benefiting from one of the largest charity initiatives by a private individual in Africa.
Uboh revealed that because it was “one of the very few universities that was ravaged by the insurgency “helped to make a case for Adamawa State University to get infrastructure support.”
The ASR Africa initiative head, however, included that it also boosted ADSU’s chances that the university’s team led by acting Vice Chancellor Stephen Luga made a powerful case in its presentation for the project and did “an excellent job following up”.
The Vice-Chancellor who expressed deep appreciation to the Chairman of BUA Group and ASR Africa Initiative -Abdul Samad Rabiu for the “rare philanthropy gesture towards the university” in his welcome address at the groundbreaking ceremony declared that the projects ” will no doubt translate into reactivation of more academic activities Adamawa State University, which has been greatly affected by insurgent activities in 2014 and only university that was ransacked and occupied by the Boko Haram terrorists”.
The other facilities added to the ultra-modern lecture 500 capacity lecture theatre being built for ADSU are four boreholes at different locations within the campus that will be connected to serve the hostels and other offices.
The Tertiary Education Grant Scheme of the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative is part of the efforts of the Chairman of BUA Group and ASR Africa, Abdul Samad Rabiu to give back to the African continent and make a lasting impact in education as a means of uplifting and restoring the dignity and lives of Africans.
The construction of the N250M lecture theatre and other facilities at ADSU adds to the list of other high-value projects by ASR Africa Initiative across different universities including the state-of-the-art hostel block for the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMinna), the N250 million College of Health Sciences Office Block for Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto State and the N250million Admin Block and a Conference Room for the Al-Qalam University, Katsina, the N1B Career Support & Cleaner Energy Solutions Center at the University of Ibadan, the N1 billion Naira Abdul Samad Rabiu International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at University of Maiduguri.
Source: SocietyNow.ng
