Prof Noah Yusuf, the Vice-Chancellor, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, says that the students population in the school has risen from 70 to 13,000 within 20 years of its establishment.
Prof. Yusuf disclosed this at the 14th convocation and 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner and Award Night held on Monday at Adeta campus in Ilorin.
The vice-chancellor said that the institution now had a 13,000 students’ population spread across undergraduates, postgraduates, part-time and distant learning programmes.
He said the three faculties at inception had increased to eight (plus the Postgraduate School and College of Health Sciences) – Agriculture, Computing, Engineering and Technology, Education, Health Sciences and Law.
“Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, the first Islamic faith-based University in Nigeria, received its licence on Jan. 7, 2005.
“Consequently, full academic activities commenced in the 2005/2006 academic session with 70 students spread across three faculties (then colleges).
”The three faculties then were Humanities and Social Sciences, Management Sciences and Natural and Applied Sciences.
“20 years on, Al-Hikmah University has grown to become a renowned citadel of knowledge occupying an important status in the comity of universities, nationally and internationally.
“The University has witnessed a great transformation in virtually all aspects,” the vice chancellor said.
Prof. Yusuf added that the university currently had 55 undergraduate academic programmes, all of which were fully accredited by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC).
“The University has also grown with respect to its postgraduate students of less than 200 in 2020 enrolment to over 2,000 in 2025.
“There are infrastructural developments from a modest few structures at Adeta campus to the present multiple structures with lecture rooms, laboratories, offices, hostels and other specialised facilities.
”The facilities such as Moot Court, sports arena, spread across three campuses in Adeta, Atere and Igbaja.
“Finally, the University has also expanded in its staffing profile from about 50 staff (academic and non-teaching) to the current workforce of 1,675,” he said.
The vice-chancellor commended the institution’s Chairman, Board of Trustees, Alhaji AbdulRaheem Oladimeji for his vision.
He noted that though the University had the picture of success from inception to date, nevertheless, it was confronted with some challenges and needed support from meaningful Nigerians.
According to the vice-chancellor, the most pressing challenge of the University is inadequate funds whose spiral effect includes inability to meet some critical needs.
Prof. Yusuf also appealed to Nigerians to support the University in areas such as construction of hostels and faculty buildings, saying that such infrastructure would be endowed with the donor’s name.
The vice-chancellor listed other areas as joint construction of classrooms and offices to be endowed in the name of the donors; scholarship grant to indigent students and research funding for the academic staff, among others.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that dignitaries present at the occasion included the former Katsina State Governor and Chairman, TETFund, Alhaji Aminu Masari; JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is’haq Oloyede; Former NUC boss, Prof Okojie, among others.
The highpoints of the event were presentation of various categories of awards and the induction of past vice-chancellors into the University’s Hall of Fame. (NAN)
