… Beats OAU, UNN, Unilag, Unilorin, Others
FUNAAB VC, Prof. Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun
In what could be described as a stunning and giant stride, the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), recorded a landmark leap, emerging second in Nigeria and 35th in Africa.
The feat is in the World Universities’ Web Ranking, released last Friday, for the January 2012 edition of the exercise.
The impressive performance is significant, coming barely three months to the expiration of the tenure of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun, as the next ranking exercise will be published in July.
A unique feature and high-point of the latest ranking is that FUNAAB recorded history by breaking the barriers of an underdog status, to outshine the combined hordes of the nation’s first, second and third generation Universities.
According to the ranking, conducted by the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigacious Cientificas (CSIC), Spain, the University of Benin, emerged the best in Nigeria and 22nd in Africa.
The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), moved up the ladder from the 7th position it occupied last year to 2nd in Nigeria and from being the continent’s 60th, to 35th, in the latest ranking.
The latest ranking revealed that the University of Ibadan came 3rd, followed by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and University of Lagos, respectively.
Other front runners include, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Ilorin and University of Jos, while Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, on 10th position, equally emerged as the best Polytechnic in Nigeria.
The only private University that made the list of the first 19 tertiary institutions in the country is Covenant University, Ota, which came a distant 13th position.
Commenting on the ranking, the Head of the University’s Webometric Centre, Dr. Olusegun Folorunso attributed the feat to “the courage and the good foresight of the Vice-Chancellor in establishing a Webometrics Centre for the University”.
As the University community basks in the glory of the glad tidings, it would be recalled that the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Balogun, had almost prophetically, at the joint Thanksgiving Prayer Session, held on the first working day of the year, declared that “the glory of the latter shall be greater than the former”, adding also that “God will do a new thing, this year!!!”.