The Essential IUO
Igbinedion University Okada (hereafter referred to as IUO) is Nigeria’s first, leading and most prestigious private university.
Approved as a limited guarantee in 1992 under the Federal Republic of Nigeria Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990 and licensed as a private university under the Education
National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions Amendment) Act of 1993, the law establishing the university (Igbinedion University Law) came into effect on 10 May 1999,
which is observed as the University’s Foundation Day. IUO is in Okada, a semi-urban city which is headquarters of Ovia North East of Edo state, one of Nigeria’s 774 local government
areas. It is 30 minutes by road from Benin City, seat of the famous Benin Empire and capital of Edo state in the Southern Mid-West, 3 hours from Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital
and 6 hours from Abuja, the federal capital. There are also air services from Benin City to Lagos (30 minutes) and Abuja (1 hour).
IUO has three campuses located in Okada, which has catalyzed the growth of the town into a truly university town where gown and town meet. First is the Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital campus,
which also houses the Oba Okunade Sijuade College of Health Sciences, the Medical School and the Professor Dora Akunyili College of Pharmacy. Unlike the practice in public sector universities in Nigeria
which maintains a duality between university and hospital, the teaching hospital operates as an integral part of the university. Second is the Crown Estate campus, formerly Okada Wonderland, one of Nigeria’s better
known tourist resorts, where staff and students of the university reside (the university requires all students to be resident on campus). Third is the main campus, the newest of the three campuses, which houses the
central administration, main library, and the university’s six other colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Social Sciences, Business and Management Studies, Natural and Applied Sciences, General Abdulsalami Abubakar College of Engineering,
and Oba Erediauwa College of Law. 5200 students are enrolled in the university, including 86 postgraduate students. 55 per cent of these are female, while 60 per cent are in the science-based disciplines, with more than half of these in
the Health Sciences. There are 400 teaching and 200 non-teaching staff (see attached tables on profile of staff and students).
The Governing Structure
Board of Regents:
comprising Trustees of the University and chaired by the Proprietor with responsibility, inter alia, for making statutes that underpin the structure, institutions and mode of governance of the university without prejudice to its academic freedom, composing the Governing Council, and assuring adequate financial sourcing and endowments for the university.
Governing Council:
chaired by the Pro-Chancellor, oversees the formulation and implementation of management policies in accordance with standards laid down by the National Universities Commission (NUC), the regulatory body for university education in Nigeria and other regulatory professional bodies; regulates university finances; and reviews the work and progress of the university from time to time.
Senate: chaired by the Vice Chancellor, regulates and controls teaching and research and conditions for admissions into and graduation from the university.
Convocation: forum for all graduates and honorary graduates of the University as well as those registered in the university, presided over by the Chancellor of the University and, in his absence, the Vice Chancellor
Congregation: chaired by the Vice Chancellor, and composed of all full time academic staff and graduates of the university, has powers to discuss any matter relating to the general welfare and development of the university
College Boards:
headed by Provost/Dean, regulates academic affairs of the college as approved by Senate
The Committee System:
administration and management of university affairs take place largely within the various standing and ad hoc committees established individually or jointly by Council and Senate, as well as by University management and colleges.
Oba Okunade Sijuade College of Health Sciences, IUO’s Flagship
The University’s flagship is the College of Health Sciences, which houses the Medical School and the Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital (IUTH), which is widely reputed to be one of the most modern
medical facilities in West Africa. The IUTH, which predates the university, having been established in 1980 by Chief Igbinedion as a Centre of Excellence in Medical Research and Practice, is administered by
a Management Board. The Igbinedion Medical School has the distinction of being the first accredited private university medical school in Nigeria, having been fully accredited by the Medical and Dental Council of
Nigeria as well as the National Universities Commission. The first set of medical doctors produced in July 2007
were the very first by a private university in the whole of Africa.
Test of Quality: Outstanding Performances of Law Graduates
The Oba Erediauwa College of Law, which is the only approved and accredited Law programme in a private university in Nigeria, turned out its first crop of graduates in 2004. The 23 of them in that set posted 100 per cent success at the Nigerian Law School
where law graduates get the call to bar. One of the 30 in the second set of IUO’s law graduates, Mr. Damilola Sunday Olawuyi, who passed with First Class Honours from the university, also graduated with a First Class Honours Degree from the Nigerian Law School in 2006.
Innovative Entrepreneurial Initiative: Student Self-Empowerment Programme, SSEP
SSEP was launched at IUO’s 8th Matriculation Ceremony on 13 January 2007 with the following objectives: to make students creators and agents
of wealth through individual and collective self-help initiatives; strengthen their knowledge of and competencies in a wide variety of income
generating entrepreneurial endeavours; instill the virtues of dignity of labour; and, in line with the overall vision of the university, make products of IUO
better able to cope with the challenges of daily living.
How SSEP Works
* Students get paid part-time placements as security guards, hostel and library porters and attendants, farmers, cleaners, restaurant assistants, chefs/stewards, gardeners, newspaper vendors, and research assistants;
* Individual students and groups of students secure university guaranteed soft loans to run small to medium scale enterprises such as barbing/hairdressing salons, photography studios, bakeries, interior decoration, farm projects, cyber cafes, butteries, tuck shops, events management, and theatre/musical groups;
* Students get support to establish and run NGOs, CBOs, and cooperatives
All these in synergy with the University’s larger Entrepreneurial Programme
Funding
* Voluntary donations and contributions
* Reserved slots for students by university, security service providers, farms, researchers, banks, restaurants and other corporate bodies in the university, Okada and its environs
* (Competitive) grants by local and international donors and development partners, banks, and other corporate bodies
* Support by Parents Consultative Forum, PCF
Management
Programme and funds are managed by a committee comprising of representatives of university management, students, PCF, corporate bodies in and around Okada and external donors.
