The governing council of the University of Abuja (UniAbuja) has approved the appointment of Aisha Maikudi as the seventh substantive vice-chancellor (VC) of the institution.

The council, headed by the retired air vice-marshal Saddiq Ismaila Kaita, spoke at its 77th “extraordinary meeting” on December 31.

Maikudi’s appointment, the council said, takes effect from January 1, 2025, and it is for a nonrenewable tenure of five years.

It said Maikudi emerged as the best among the 10 shortlisted candidates and was interviewed by the joint council and senate selection board (JCSSB) of the university.

Before she was appointed the substantive vice-chancellor, Aisha Sani Maikudi served as UniAbuja’s acting VC from July 5, 2024.

Born on 31st January 1983 in Katsina, Maikudi is a professor of International Law at the institution.

Her education began at Sacred Heart School in Kaduna, where she obtained her first school leaving certificate (FSLC) in 1993.

She proceeded to Queens College in Yaba Lagos, earning her West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 1999.

The Ahmadu Bello University Teaching University (ABUTH) Zaria, Kaduna state, says it will commence kidney transplant surgery in 2025.

In an interview with NAN, Ahmed Umdagas, chief medical director of the hospital, said the Urology Centre of Excellence would be ready by the first quarter of 2025.

“By the first quarter of 2025, ABUTH would commence kidney transplant. What was just holding us was a few infrastructure,” he said.

“Beside that, most of the machines and equipment for kidney transplant were available and our personnel have been adequately trained to offer the services.”

Umdagas said aside from the urology centre, there would also be an amenity wing that can take any class of patients.

He said the wing will have a single-bed room, a room and parlour for the affluent patients, stressing that ABUTH was determined to offer global-best services.

“The amenity wing would have a dedicated line and a website; the website will have the profile of doctors in the hospital,” he said.

“When a patient wants to see a certain professor or specialist, what he will just do is to make a call on the dedicated line or the website to see him seamlessly.”

While speaking on additional efforts to reverse medical tourism, the chief medical director said ABUTH had a fully functional 128 Slice CT Scan machine.

“If you are doing investigation abroad that requires the use of the 128 slice CT Scan, one must pay an amount not lower than $200 which is over N300,000 while ABUTH charges for such service is just N30,000,” he said.

“We also have 1.5 Tesla MRI and 0.2 Tesla MRI machines which are high imaging machines.

“They are fully functional at the hospital and the cost for such services is far below what is being charged in other places within Nigeria.

“We also do lithotripsy at ABUTH which is breaking stones by laser instead of a surgery.”

A disturbance, purported to be a protest of professors, has broken out at the University of Abuja (UniAbuja) campus.

The campus has been in a state of uncertainty in recent months over controversies surrounding the appointment of a vice-chancellor.

A law professor Aisha Maikudi had assumed duties as the acting VC after the expiry of Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah’s tenure in late June.

Na’Allah, in the absence of a governing council at UniAbuja, advertised for the VC position through the minister of education in March.

This sparked an 82-day protest from academic staff who argued that only the council has the authority to issue such an advertisement.

A council was inaugurated; the advert was reviewed in August and extended by a six-week application window to elapse in early October.

A subsequent delay in the commencement of the VC selection process prompted an intervention from the education ministry, under the new minister Tunji Alausa’s oversight, which reportedly directed that the selection be concluded by or before December 31, 2024.

VC selection requires a board of five comprising two university council members, two from the university senate, and the pro-chancellor.

Management sources in UniAbuja told TheCable on Tuesday that there was an election to choose the selection board’s senate representatives but the elected parties refused to validate or take part in the VC selection process.

“According to them, it is their work to shortlist candidates and set criteria. The council objected, saying it is its work to do all that. It said it would give the selection committee the criteria to score the candidates and produce three from a shortlist,” the source said.

“The selection committee wrote a letter to the council three weeks ago to protest. The council invited the legal adviser to the university. He explained that it is the responsibility of the council to do the shortlisting, do the criteria, and then hand over.”

TheCable understands that the university council was meant to hand over 40 VC candidates who were shortlisted out of 87 applicants, but the meeting could not take place on December 23 due to the protesting senate members who refused to participate in the process.

“They forced the academic staff union to have a congress, believing they could get the union to reject the process. But ASUU resolved that the process should continue and that the council should be fair, transparent, and impartial,” the management source explained.

A meeting was to hold at 9am in the presence of the pro-chancellor and the acting VC to replace the senate members of the joint council and senate selection board (JCSSB) but it was shifted until noon following mediation by the UniAbuja academic staff union.

Abubakar Umar Kari, UniAbuja’s dean of student affairs, said the senate members boycotted the meeting and invited journalists.

He said the journalists were accosted by officers of the UniAbuja campus security who deflated their tyres in an ensuing confrontation.

“There was no protest. Our security people were only overzealous. They saw an interview some people granted. They accosted them and deflated their tyres, not knowing the implication of what they were doing,” Umar said.