The outgoing Vice-Chancellor of Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State, Prof. Barnabas Qurix, has advised university leaders to avoid focusing on themselves.
The Vice-Chancellor said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Karu.
Qurix advised the leadership of tertiary institutions to remain focus on the task bestowed on them than their personal gains.
He said one must have vision, focus and a clear understanding of what lies ahead of him.
“If you have nothing at stake except the vision and target you set for yourself, you will surely succeed and I think this is something to watch out for”, Qurix said.
He said that God was behind the growth and successes that the University had achieved so far.
Qurix said that with little resources in some cases, they were able to deliver so much.
He said that there was a need for team work in any area of ones endeavours or leadership.
He said that non interference from higher authorities was key to facilitating and completion of given tasks and projects.
Qurix said that he was able to do so much in a given time because there was no much interference.
He advised his successors to always build on the foundation they met and at the same time build on their own foundation.
According to him, he did not abandon the projects that were uncompleted when he assumed office, rather he completed them before embarking on his own projects.
He urged the government and university authorities to invest in research to generate income.
“Having served for six years, I have been able to handle funding challenge. I was faced with huge debt, but by God’s grace it was cleared from N10b from the N13b I met.
“As some point, everybody was worried for us, but today, we have overcomed it and even infrastructure challenge has be substantially reduced,”he said.
He advised the incoming VC to be focused and see how best to source for fund to continue with developmental projects in the institution. (NAN)