Dr Muhammad Gambo Hamza is the Provost, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) College of Education, Zuba. He speaks with some journalists on why there is a difference in affairs of the College. DANIEL TYOKUA was there for The AUTHORITY.
Asked on how his administration is consolidating and fast tracking achievements in the College, Dr. Muhammad Hamza said the institution under his watch is concerned with adding value through innovations that will put the college on the world map of education.
To continue with the standard, he said the College on 15 February, 2020, had its second combined convocation ceremony, where 12,969 graduates were issued with Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) in different disciplines.
He said: “Students that receive knowledge from senior scholars are to come and be awarded their certificates to indicate that they already learnt something new both in character and learning so that they can go out and impart knowledge.
“Our mission is to provide for the teacher requirement for both primary and post-primary schools in the FCT and its environs. This is our mission. Ours to provide qualified teachers that are going to teach in primary and post primary schools. When we came on board, we discovered that since the maiden convocation that took place in September 2013, there was no convocation.
“We tried by all means to see that we convocated all the backlog of graduates from 2010-2018… It is really a big achievement for this administration. To make sure we do not have any outstanding students in the convocation”.
He explained that the College recorded a lot of successes in areas of infrastructure, conferences, seminars and even staff development.
” FCT College of Education has trained 33 PhD holders, at least under our watch, they have already secured their PhD certificates. Together with what we had before then, we now have 49 PhD holders. In terms of staff development, we have achieved a lot. Based on staff development in ranking and quality, we applied for the commencement of degree programme. National Universities Commission (NUC) sent in a team of resource persons to assess the available infrastructure and granted approval to commence B.Sc programme in some areas, in affiliation with ABU Zaria. The programme will commence in 2020.”
On development, the College he stated, had also enjoyed interventions from TETFund in terms of infrastructure. Some buildings were completed and put to use.
These include School of Languages, School of Arts and Social Sciences block A, B and C, Department of Agricultural Education, among others.
Another thing that the administration is proud of, is the prevailing stable academic calendar and the peaceful co-existence in the school, a feat the Provost attributed to a committee system.
He said: “We are managing the institution with a committee system. Whatever comes up, we set up a committee to handle the matter and provide recommendations. That is why we are different, and we are enjoying peace. We are also at peace with our three unions; COEASU, SSUCOEN and NASU.
“They are all working to contribute their quotas for the peace and stability of the institution. We are glad at the cooperation we enjoy from the host community (Zuba) so that we can maintain peace and stability.
“Leadership is a gift provided you are a just leader. You are going to have peace of mind and stability. Our administration is all inclusive because we use to sit and discuss matters with students. They tell us what they want and we guide them. In administration, if you want to maintain stability try and be just, honest and transparent in all that you do. With that you can manage an institution effectively. Definitely, there is no cultism in FCT College. Is not our power but power of God. We are managing the institution. We have Students Union Government (SUG) and they conducted their election peacefully and democratically and nobody interfered. I think if we can maintain this tempo, we can curtail cultism issues.”
One of the interesting developments that pleases the provost is the permanent site of the College.
“There is great achievement with the permanent site. The Department of Physical and Health Education has already relocated to the site. We have already electrified the site. Our major predicament on the site is perimeter fencing, access road and road networks that will connect the buildings, but this year we are gradually going to relocate.
On the challenge of hostel accomodation, Hamza said: “There is a great hostel challenge in the college. FCT College of Education is like off-campus because the available hostel accommodates only 5percent of the students. Considering the percentage, we can say the school is off-campus but students are mostly staying in communities around the school. This is why we are appealing to the government to come to our aid by building hostels.”
