Accolades As ABU ALUMNA, Mrs. Goje Marks Sterling 1st Year In Office As FUTMinna Bursar
By Ugboaja, Stanley Uzoamaka
“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that is the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”
The statement above by the legendary National Football League (NFL) coach, Vince Lombardi can aptly describe the Bursar of the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMinna), Mrs. Hadiza Goje, fcna, fcti.
Her appointment as financial overseer of this first-rate citadel of learning has vastly changed the face of the Bursary Department in all facets, especially as it relates to the discharge of the Department’s statutory obligations as enacted in the University’s extant laws.
With her cognate experience in financial matters spanning over 20 years in the private and public sectors, Mrs. Goje has repositioned the Bursary Department as a 21st-century top-notch entity driven by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to ease its modus operandi in line with global best practices.
A thorough-bred financial expert, Mrs. Goje is an alumna of the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where she bagged a B.Sc. degree in Accounting in the year 2000. In 2010, she obtained her M.Sc. degree (Accounting and Finance) from the same University.
She also holds a PGD in Maths/Computer from the Federal University of Technology, Minna.
Mrs. Goje is a Fellow of the Chartered National Accountants, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and equally holds the membership of other numerous professional bodies in Nigeria and abroad.
Putting her vast experience and superb educational background into consideration, one can only agree that she is the right person for the job, and perfectly suit at this point in time when sound administrative and creative financial expertise are sorely required to lead the Bursary Department of a cosmopolitan university in Nigeria, especially with the well-documented records of a never-ending struggle for funds needed by the institution to support cutting-edge research, infrastructural development, and other obligations.
READ ALSO: HOW ABU ZARIA ALUMNUS, PROF BALA RE-WRITING THE NARRATIVE AT FUTMINNA
On assumption of office on October 21, 2020, Mrs. Goje promised “to lead a Bursary Department that will explore Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the workplace to complement human resources that ensures due process, accountability, probity, transparency, and good financial policy formulation.
A Bursary Department that is efficient and effective in the management of the University scarce finances and able to provide Management with reliable data and information at the right time to enable well-informed financial decisions”.
One year down the line after making this bold statement of intent, it is imperative to state that Mrs. Goje has walked the talk by transforming the operational architecture of the Bursary Department using ICT for optimal performance in handling of the University’s financial obligations to staff and other stakeholders.
As a seasoned accountant of global repute with knowledge in accounting, risk management, auditing, and governmental accounting, she has brought all these skills to bear in the effective running of the Bursary Department to the delight of many.
She is the second woman to take up such an exalted position in the 38 year-history of FUT, Minna. She is also among an elitist group of women saddled with the responsibilities of heading the Bursary Department in Nigerian tertiary institutions who have gone on to break barriers, setting the pace for aspiring young female financial experts to follow.
It is germane to note that, this is a position that was hitherto reserved for men alone. Her sterling performance at the helm of affairs of the University’s finances, has further re-, echoed the age-long saying that “what a man can do, a woman can do better”.
With the support of the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdullahi Bala, fsssn, Mrs. Goje is re-writing the narrative of the Bursary Department in all facets, judging by the numerous accomplishments recorded in the last one year.
She has decentralized the Bursary Department by deploying Finance Officers to various Schools, Directorates, and Centres to aid the financial transactions of staff and students with the University.
This singular effort has further enhanced the profile of the Bursary Department in terms of effective service delivery, while also reducing the traffic of staff and students going to the University’s Senate Building where the Bursary Department is domiciled.
Also worthwhile to state, she has put in place several control measures to block financial wastage in order to judiciously manage the meagre resources of the institution in line with the policy of the present administration.
She has also centralized the handling of the Local Purchase Order (LPO) to Store Officers in the Bursary Department who are professionals in the areas of purchasing and supply which has further aided the update of the University’s Fixed Assets Register.
Equally important to note, the Bursary Department under her stewardship initiated an electronic receipt platform for all financial transactions of the University in order to enhance efficiency, reduce wastage, manage costs and promote accountability.
Speaking at the launch of the e-receipt platform, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Bala had stated that the hi-tech payment platform is consistent with the mission of his administration to ensure that all financial dealings in the University are automated.
This is a perfect evidence of the Bursary Department’s audacious step in leveraging on the growing importance of ICT to aid its operations for optimal performance.
Furthermore, the Department now has an equipped library that housed contemporary books, journals, workshops, and training materials in fiscal-related matters for staff of the Department to keep themselves abreast with latest tips in the ever-evolving financial sector.
In addition, she has also reduced the University’s cash advance ledger from N117million that she met on assumption of office in 2020 to N45million, by ensuring that staff retire all cash advance given to them before receiving any other monies. She has also reiterated her commitment to reducing this to the barest minimum before the end of 2021.
Within the last one year, Mrs. Goje has worked assiduously to boost the financial profile of the University in the area of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to complement the dwindling subventions from the Federal Government to enable the institution meet up with other financial needs.
Some mechanisms introduced in this regard are the new revenue target given to the University Commercial Farm, as well as ensuring remittance compliance into the institution’s coffers by FUTMin Ventures, the University Bus Service Unit, Model Secondary School and the University Microfinance Bank, just to mention a few.
With the support of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bala, the Bursary Department, under the leadership of Mrs. Goje, is building an expert financial workforce for the University through training and re-training of staff. It is on record that over 20 staff of the Bursary Department have benefitted from this training scheme since she assumed office one year ago.
She has also revived the Bursary Department’s in-house staff training which was last held in 2014. This year’s edition of the training took place on September 23rd to 24th, 2021.
Above all, Mrs. Goje has introduced an Annual Bursary Department Public Lecture Series with the maiden edition slated for October 21, 2021. The Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. (Dr.) Busayo Oluwole Oke would deliver the lecture titled: “Accountability and Transparency in Nigeria: The Role of Accountants”. This lecture is the very first of its kind to be organised by the Bursary Department.
Indeed, it is gratifying that Mrs. Goje has keyed into the Vice-Chancellor’s mission of transforming all financial transactions from analogue to digital and also blocking all routes of financial leakages in the University.
The Governing Council of the University deserves a place in this success story for entrusting the Bursar, Mrs. Goje with the onerous task of heading the Bursary Department. The achievements recorded by the Bursar, Mrs. Goje so far is a pointer to the fact that the University is on the right path.
Indeed, considering the hard work put in by Mrs. Goje within the first year of her stewardship, it is hard not to see her doing more in the remaining four years of her tenure.
To a leader that is steadily writing her name in gold, the collective and effusive cheer on her first anniversary of service at FUTMinna seems to be the shining light needed to further propel the University to greater heights.
Written by: Ugboaja, Stanley Uzoamaka, anipr (Ph.D. in view), Public Commentator
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