The new Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Uduma Oji Uduma, has identified six priority areas for his administration as he assumed office on Wednesday.
These include strengthening of study centres, enhancing learner support systems, improving ICT and digital infrastructure, ensuring the integrity of e-examinations, promoting staff welfare, and sustaining quality assurance and accreditation standards.
Uduma made the statement at a ceremony when his predecessor in office, Prof. Olufemi Ayinde Peters, handed over the baton of leadership to him as Vice-Chancellor for the next five years.
The handover ceremony, held at the university’s headquarters in Abuja, marked the beginning of a new chapter in the institution’s history.
Uduma, a Professor of Philosophy and one-time Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic of the NOUN, assumed office as the sixth Vice-Chancellor of the institution.
His emergence as VC was first announced by the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the university, Malam Isa Yuguda, during a press conference held on October 10, 2025 in Abuja.
In his assumption of office speech, titled, “Rising to Build: Stewardship, Access, and Excellence for a New NOUN Era,” Uduma described his appointment as a “solemn national trust” and a call to purposeful service.
According to him, “Leadership is not ornamental; it is functional. It is not a posture of arrival, but a posture of responsibility.”
While reaffirming the NOUN’s mandate, the new VC emphasised the university’s core mission of democratising access to quality higher education and removing barriers of geography, age, employment status, gender and circumstance.
He recalled his time as the director of the Abakaliki study centre of the university, saying he is now the first NOUN Vice-Chancellor with a prior study centre experience, underlining his commitment to improving the centres under his administration.
“I come into this office not to experiment, but to build,” he said.
The VC acknowledged a growing influx of young learners into the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system, a phenomenon he described as an evolution of NOUN’s mandate rather than a departure from it.
He stressed the need to balance flexibility with discipline and innovation with academic integrity.
He called for unity across board – the university Council, management, staff, students, alumni, and partners – while stressing the need for continuity and collective ownership.
Uduma also urged the university community to “rise up and build,” adding that NOUN must continue to serve as a model of open and distance learning that combines access with credibility and national service with global relevance.
He paid a glowing tribute to his predecessor, Professor Olufemi A. Peters, as well as the previous captains of the institution, describing the university’s leadership as “a relay, not a rupture.”
He pledged to consolidate existing gains while advancing the university’s mission in a rapidly evolving digital and knowledge-driven environment.
In his valedictory speech, Prof. Peters appreciated the NOUN council, Senate, principal officers and staff who stood by him all through his five-year tenure.
“I am profoundly grateful to God Almighty for raising me when hope seemed lost, God has been good to Femi Peters,” he added.
He commended his successor for his efforts in visiting different directorates, units and study centres during his waiting period, which, according to him, has prepared him to hit the ground running.
Earlier, in his speech, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Chiedu Mafiana, appreciated the outgoing VC for his resilence in ensuring NOUN was etched on the world map as regards ODL.
In his vote of thanks, the university Registrar, Mr. Oladipo Ajayi, welcomed the new Vice-Chancellor, adding, “We welcome you at this defining moment of history. As you have often said, you are the keeper, the gatekeeper standing between the legacy of the old guards and the promise of the future. The Senate is confident that you will carry this sacred trust with wisdom, courage, and vision.”
Ajayi also described Peters as someone who “stands, truly, as one of the last of the Mohicans, a custodian of institutional memory, an exemplar of fidelity, and a member of that noble old guard who kept faith when faith mattered most; who held the compass steady when the waters were uncertain; and who remained a guiding spirit in preserving and advancing the very essence of our defining mandate: Open and Distance Learning.”
The ceremony witnessed the presentation of a handover note, the NOUN Act of 1983 as amended in 2018; the seal of the university which represents the symbol of the VC’s Office; gavel of the Senate, and a red pen, which signifies office.
The ceremony was also marked by dignity and reflection as colleagues, staff, family, friends and associates gathered to witness the symbolic transfer of authority.
