The new Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, has expressed delight at the warm reception accorded him by the entire workforce of the commission on his assumption to office.
Speaking at an interactive meeting with staff, Prof. Rasheed said, is was very touchy and humbling for him.
He added that as a person, he had been lucky in all his assignments including as Managing Director and Chief Executive of New Nigeria Newspapers Limited and Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK).
While also expressing his delight to be in the NUC, the Executive Secretary pledged to do his best to ensure that everyone work and live as a family.
He said: “NUC is big enough, large to accommodate us. Everybody has responsibility; you will all be given the opportunity to prove yourselves. My stay in NUC can only be determined by God as he alone knows what would happen next. You are the key staff of the Commission; I have worked with all strata of persons irrespective of political or religious affiliations. Be you a liberal or conservative, Moslem or Christian, we should all work together.”
The Executive Secretary promised to do his best to improve on the welfare package of staff. According to him, “We would also try our best in the areas of promotion and capacity building of staff. Promotion would be given as at and when due for staff that fulfill the requisite obligations. NUC staff would be sponsored and funds would be attracted from relevant sources to ensure that staff acquire PhDs. You cannot expect the universities to respect you fully as a regulator when you don’t possess the highest academic qualification. I will force you to embark on PhDs”.
Professor Rasheed called on staff to be honest and to do their work with utmost sense of responsibilities.
He added: “I have only friends and not enemies. I work for peace and my expectations are that we would work together to improve the system, based on our mandates. Be rest assured that I will do my best along with the Management to ensure that whatever that is due to you is given to you. I know that things are difficult today, we are going to work together through the difficulty”.
