Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, the vice chancellor of the university, disclosed this on Friday at the ‘Long Time Service Award’ where 524 members of staff of the institution were honoured.
The event brought together current and former staff of the institution.
Professor Fagbohun said the university went through a rigorous assessment towards being granted the award, which is worth about $7 million.
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“We were chosen from about 154 universities that applied for the centre, and after several rounds of assessment and screening, we were selected as the only state university in the round. It’s not about me, it’s about all of us,” he said.
Tribune Education recalls that this is the third in the series of the ACE projects funded through the World Bank International Development Assistance (IDA) funds. The funds are provided as loans to the participating governments across West and Central Africa.
Since 2013, the ACE project has successfully supported institutions and students across Western and Central Africa through improved teaching and research conditions and scholarships and graduate internships.
Other Nigerian universities that host the ACE on STEM are the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife; the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja (AUST) and the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT).
OAU ACE project focuses on building an ICT-driven knowledge park; that of AUST is the Pan African Materials Institute, while that of UNIPORT focuses on Oilfield Chemicals Research.
The third in the series of ACE project is aimed at supporting more policy harmonisation initiatives in higher education across the African region.
According to the vice chancellor, funds the university gets through the centre are renewable based on output and performance; adding that LASU would use the money to build a convention centre and attract international students to its campuses.
“LASU would get a minimum of $7 million as a centre for the project, which is renewable after four years following impressive output and performance.
“Not only do we have the fund to build a convention centre; we now have four new buildings coming to this university. The buildings will start being put in place in December this year.
“When we start this Centre of Excellence, we must promise ourselves that we will strategically manage our institution and sustain it. The name of the game is changing and we must be a part of it,” he said.
He thanked all the members of the management, deans and heads of departments that had made the feat possible.
While commending the university staff for their hard work and dedication to service, the pro-chancellor of the university, Professor Adebayo Ninalowo encouraged the staff to work hard to better the institution.
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