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Tag: UNILORIN

  • Unilorin don wins N5m research grant on heart burn disease

    An Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Dr. Abdullahi Olokoba, has been awarded the Astra Zeneca Research Grant, worth about N5million.

    Olokoba told newsmen on Tuesday in Ilorin that the grant would help to advance research in the study of Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD, also known as heart burn).

    According to him, the research will be conducted with a team of scholars across departments of medicine from Nigerian University Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres.

    The scientist clinched the grant following the submission of a proposal entitled “Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease in Nigeria: A Population-Based Study”.

    According to Olokoba, the research is necessary because the prevalence of GERD in Africa is not clearly known.

    He explained that the continent was conspicuously missing in the global map of GERD, which was known to affect between 10 and 20 percent of the population in western countries.

    Olokoba, also the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Kwara State General Hospital, Ilorin, described GERD as the clinical condition that develops when gastric contents find their way into the oesophagus.

    “This causes troublesome symptoms such as heartburn and regurgitation or complications such as Barrett’s oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma that can require surgical intervention,” he said.

  • Unilorin has not experienced strikes in the last 17 years- Vice Chancellor

    The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, on Tuesday, said the university had not experienced workers’ strikes or students’ unrest in the last 17 years.

    The Vice Chancellor stated this at an interactive session with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara.

    He admitted that this was one of the reasons why the University had remained the most sought after by admission seekers for more than four years consecutively.

    Ambali, however, said that the university had continued to have its fair share of challenges and “we are tackling them.

    “January 2017, will be the 17th year that the University of Ilorin will continue to be consistent in opening its doors to students”.

    The Vice Chancellor recounted some of the challenges his management had faced since October 2012 when he assumed office, saying there is no road that is smooth or trouble-free.

    “The road to heaven is not easy; you have to work for it.

    “If you are a Muslim, you have to pray five times daily; you have to fast and you have to, in fact, abide by the five pillars of Islam.

    “If you are a Christian, it has its own protocol. It is not easy to achieve what the protocol states,” he said.

    The Vice Chancellor used the occasion to clarify what he called the current misinformation about changes in the costs and delays in the delivery of the PC tablets to the students.

    “To start with, the tablet project started four years ago when we conceived the idea to make University of Ilorin’s graduates well-equipped for the challenges of the outside world which they will soon face when they leave here,” he said,

    Ambali said that until sometimes in 2015 when the naira began to depreciate significantly in value, the project was smooth and trouble-free.

    The Vice Chancellor added that most operations in the university were digital, adding that the business of the university’s Senate was paperless.

    “You will not see professors and senate members of the university carrying lots of pamphlets in their hands going to the senate chambers.

    “Unilorin was the first to start the Computer-Based Test (CBT) in the country. We started it more than 10 years ago,” he said.

    He said that for the university to be having a paperless Senate, having cashless environment, the teaching and learning on the campus have to be ICT-based.

    He said it was heart-warming to hear laudable achievements from students of the university at their various NYSC camps and the offices where they were employed.

  • Unilorin VC elected into International Association of Universities Board

    …was earlier elected as Chairman, Association of West African Universities (AWAU)

    The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Unilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, has been elected into the 22-member Administrative Board of the International Association of Universities (IAU).

    (IAU) is UNESCO-based worldwide alliance of higher education institutions.

    Ambali’s election is contained in the university’s bulletin published on Tuesday.

    According to the bulletin, the election came one month after Ambali became the Chairman of the Association of West African Universities (AWAU).

    The publication stated that the election took place at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

    It said that the election was one of the high points of the 15th General Conference of the Association held from Nov. 13 to Nov. 16.

    It added that Prof. Pam Fredman, the Rector of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, was elected IAU President, noting that Fredman would be the first woman to lead the organisation.

    According to the bulletin, Ambali is one of the three vice chancellors from Africa elected into the IAU board.

    “The two others are the Vice-Chancellor of Zimbabwe Open University, Prof. Primrose Kurasha; and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu.

    “Also elected from Africa, as Deputy Board Member, is the Vice-Chancellor of the United States International University-Africa, Kenya, Prof. Paul Zeleza,” it said.

    The IAU, founded in 1950, is a leading global association of higher education institutions and organisations.

    With membership from more than 130 countries, bilingual (English and French), non-governmental organisation, IAU acts as the voice of higher education to UNESCO and other international higher education organisations.