UNITED Bank for Africa (UBA) and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in the penultimate week inaugurated a Board of Trustees towards resuscitating a 44-year old Professorial Chair in Finance in the university which was established precisely on January 13, 1972.
According the reports which have been confirmed, UBA made a donation of N53m on the project in 2015 but yet to substantially take-off until now, hence the inauguration of the board which will assiduously work towards the occupation of the chair in actualizing its goals.
At the inauguration which took place at the Senate Chambers of the university, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Rahamon Bello, said the board, chaired by Prof Ben Oghojafor, has as its key term of reference, a mandate to work out the modalities for the occupation of the chair adding that the Registrar and Bursar of the university were also members of the board to facilitate resolutions on time.
“We inaugurate this board to ensure that we not only collect the money but put in someone to occupy the chair as soon as possible. The responsibility to do that will be vested in this board of trustees. They will be able to decide the parameters by which the first occupier of this chair in this dispensation will be sourced and named.
“We will ensure that the occupier of that chair will contribute immensely, not only to the academia but the practice as it will affect the UBA, as the donor. We want to charge the BOT that our own intention is to, in not more than about three months, be able to have somebody to occupy that chair. We want the money to be performing. We want a performing fund; and we want a performing chair,” Bello said.
Speaking on behalf of UBA, Ms Obi Ibekwe, UBA Executive Director, Resources, who is also a member of the board, categorically lauded the initiatives adding that the bank has unparalleled confidence that the project would make exceptional progress on its resuscitation.
“We are very proud to associate with this initiative that has contributed immensely to the sharpening of manpower in the Nigerian financial industry. We regret that we let it go to sleep. But it’s now being brought back to life. It is our intention it stays so. We hope that this endowment will continue to facilitate faculty excellence by providing the much needed funding for unhindered research, teaching and other education related activities with the objective of elevating education standards in the country,” she said.
Other members of the Board of Trustees include the university’s Dean, Faculty of Business Administration, Prof Rasheed Kola Ojikutu; Head, Department of Finance, Prof Esther Adegbite, and Director, Office of Advancement, UNILAG, Mrs. Ibironke Salam, who acts as secretary to the board.