The Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo, Benue State, on Tuesday matriculated 1,642 students for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 sessions
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Francis Uba, who spoke at the matriculation ceremony held at the University’s take-off campus, Otada in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state, encouraged the matriculating students to embrace hard work and discipline to excel in their academic pursuits
Giving the breakdown of the admitted students, the VC said that a total of 259 students were admitted into the faculty of Applied Science, 644 in the faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, while 105 students were admitted into the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and 313 in the faculty of Health Science and Technology.
He assured that within the next quarter of next year additional 22 programmes will be introduced.
The VC further enjoined the new students to cultivate study habits, immerse themselves in learning, understanding and strive for excellence
Professor Uba, who lamented that the university had navigated through a season of siloed interpersonal relationships, a strained reputation, stagnated enrollment and moments of doubt- both from within and beyond the university community said that the institution has come to embrace a unified vision centred on alignment and harmonious integration of purpose, motive, and action.
The alignment, according to him, serves as the engine that transforms potential into kinetic progress, ideas into impactful realities, and vision into life experiences.
The VC explained that when action aligns with motive and action, transformation becomes not just a possibility but a cascade of inevitability, where clarity emerges.
He added that the institution has regained its trust and sincerity as its commitment is now being recognised by students and parents.
“A university that operates in alignment transcends stagnation. Each challenge, be it low enrollment, public scepticism, or historical non-performance, can be reframed as an opportunity for renewal.
” Every lecture delivered with passion, every student supported with care, and every programme executed with integrity signals that we have learned, adapted, and now act with a unified purpose.
“Therefore, our faculty and staff must consciously strive to be a worthy model of emulation. Let our teaching, research, and administrative practice echo the alignment of our motives with our founding purpose.
“Each decision, policy and interaction with students should reflect our renewed commitment to quality and integrity”, Prof. Ubah stated.
Earlier in his remarks, the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the university and guest lecturer at the occasion, Prof. Chukwubuike Aghaji, maintained that the university should strive towards providing opportunities for manpower development and enhanced quality research.
Prof. Aghaji, who titled his lecture as “Transforming FUSHO into a foremost university in Africa, insisted that the university should be an ICT-driven institution where every student to one computer to enhance their learning and research ability.”
He charged the university to set a standard and maintain a tradition of excellence, which, once built, nobody can change.
“Your curriculum should be a first-class curriculum that can market students. The school should review its curriculum of all the departments and be weaponized it to the current global standards.
“The school should also come out with a cut for admission of students. They should be institutional records”, he said.
