UNIMAID alumni admits 14-year struggle, announces steps to reposition, expand impacts

By Abubakar Haruna Muhammad (9News Nigeria Northeast)

The President of the University of Maiduguri Alumni Association, Global, has admitted that the association is “starting all over” after years of inactivity, and announced new steps to reposition the body and expand its impact.

Speaking during an interview, the president, Baba Shettima Kukawa said while the university marked 50 years in November 2025, the alumni association was only formally registered in 2012.

“When we came in 2009 and wanted to open an account for the association, we realized that we don’t even have the legal instruments to open an account. So we’re not even registered,” he said.

He however noted that in the 14 years since registration, “not much has actually happened for the Alumni Association.”

The election that brought in the current executive in 2025 was the “first ever election at that level,” he added.

The president outlined three cardinal objectives for the administration, unity, building the right structures for the organization to thrive, and making impact on members, the alma mater, and current students.

He said the three pillars of impact for the association are mentoring of members and students, providing scholarships and assistance to students, and infrastructural development.

To strengthen structure, the association has launched an online portal for membership registration.

The president said the portal was created about 30 days ago and has already recorded over 5,000 registered members.

“I was chairman of the Abuja chapter from 2019 to 2020 and we had a database of almost about 2,000 members then. But we have now created an online portal, it is just about a month now and we have over 5,000 registered members so far,” he said.

He added that between 70 to 100 members register daily.

“Registration is done online, after which data will be downloaded and sent to the university to confirm graduation. That is the basis of being a member of the association,” he said.

Partnership with University

The president disclosed that the association had a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor and all requests made were approved.

“All the things we asked for, has been approved graciously and most importantly our task is to drive partnership because whatever we are doing is to support his work as vice-chancellor,” Kukawa explained.

He noted that the VC has renamed the Directorate of Partnership, Linkages and Alumni Affairs to the Directorate of Advancement and Alumni Relations to align with the new drive to grow alumni relations.

“It’s a fruitful engagement and we will continue to have more of this,” he added.

He also commended the VC for his passion and commitment to the university, describing him as an alumnus who is “on the right track.”

Upcoming Conference

The association announced plans to hold a conference and general meeting under the theme: “unity, resilient impact, building unity, and strengthening the nation.”

The event is expected to bring together alumni across sectors, starting from the highest-ranking alumni that we have today in the country, to discuss growing the association and providing impact to members, the alma mater, and students.

The president said his legacy goals include ensuring sustainability, capturing 70-80% of graduates in the association’s database, making all chapters functional, and delivering impact.