Ochefu, former Sec.-Gen, CVCNU emerges president of merged alumni associations

By Mariam Abeeb

Prof. Yakubu Ochefu has emerged president of the merged Conference of Alumni Association of Nigeria University (CAANU) and Association of Nigerian Universities Alumni (ANUA).
Speaking on the sidelines of the 2024 Unity Convention in Abuja, Ochefu, former Secretary-General, Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), said the coming together of the association’s would impact on universities governance.
Ochefu, expressed hope that the coming together of the two groups would bring about united voice to address universities challenges.
According to him, the two umbrella bodies of alumni association in the past were operating independently and we said we cannot be speaking in discordandus, we must be on the page speaking same matter.
“The logic here is that we are able to have a united voice on any matter that we see. The Nigerian Universities System (NUS) has a number of challenges that we know.
“How do we as alumni of the universities- the social voice, the conscience of the university, how do we engage with the various stakeholders, the proprietors, the management of the university the current students and staff?
“How do we engage with them and say we are your products, we represent you and this is what we hear and see and this is what we think the solutions are. So at that level of our individual institutions we can now engage?.
“The alumni association is a platform that enables us to compare notes and best practices so that we are able to come with policy that is coherent that cut across the board that will add value to the NUS,’’ he said.
The Secretary of CAANU, Mallam Suhail Maccido, said the common ground formed would translate into universities progress in terms of infrastructure and quality of education.
“Today, we have been able to come together to resolve our differences without any rancour. The two bodies has been able to come together and elected our executives.
“The CANU and ANUA have been one in the past before 2020 but when Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) said they can’t register CANU, we now come together and register ANUA in 2012 which was the beginning of the problem.
“But now it has been resolved and every one of us has come to put our resources together so that our voices will be heard,” he said.
Maccido added that the coming together of the two bodies would help address the unmarketable certificates of some universities.
He further appealed to the federal government to enlist president of the association as governing council members so as to contribute their quota in advancing university’s education.
“We hear of some universities selling certificates and some universities certificate are not marketable, so we can do a lot to make sure individual Alumni in each of the university monitor what is happening in their university.
“And if you are to give back to the university, we must be part of the system.
“In a situation where the president of the alumni is not allowed to be a member of the governing board, how do you want us to part with our money when we don’t know how the money is being spent.
‘So we want the government to believe that if they want much from us, they should be able to give us access to monitor how our money are being spent,’’ he added.
The association have members in over 100 universities, spread across the country.