A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

On behalf of the Governing Council, Senate, Management and, in particular, the Vice Chancellor of Federal University Otuoke, I wish to congratulate you for being among the privileged few to be admitted to this great university in the 2020/2021 academic session. I welcome you to both Otuoke and the University.

It is common knowledge that less than twenty percent of the thousands of qualified applicants for admission into Nigerian universities each year are offered admission. This means that out of every five applicants, four are denied admission. It is therefore a rare privilege to gain admission into a Nigerian university. You should, therefore, see your admission as a rare and great opportunity.

The purpose of university education is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and character which they will need to live the good life and to make a contribution to the betterment of society. There are two major ways in which you should therefore seize this opportunity which you have been given so as to benefit maximally from your stay in the university. The first major way in which you should seek to achieve this is to voraciously pursue knowledge generally but especially in your chosen field of study. For every topic you will ever study, you should seek to know the what, when, where, who, how and why. Tap into all legitimate and reliable sources of knowledge including lectures, tutorials, textbooks, reference books, journals, the internet, the news media, lecturers and your colleagues. Never give up or be tired of learning.

The second way in which you should try to benefit from university education is to develop and refine your character. University education should build you into a lady or gentleman as the case may be. This means that you should learn to accommodate others by living as respectful and respectable citizens. You must shun cultism, prostitution, riotous living, fighting, stealing, robbery, lying, cheating in examinations, advance fee fraud (otherwise known as 419) and other vices. In other words, you should be a good role model for other students and your younger siblings to follow. You must learn to be law-abiding in ALL situations and at ALL times.

This handbook, along with the University handbook, is intended to guide you throughout your sojourn at the university. It spells out the rules and regulations governing your academic programme, the course offerings, examination regulations, course descriptions and basic information about the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Faculty. You are required to obtain a copy and study it thoroughly; it should serve as a reference material throughout your studentship.

If and whenever you have a challenge or need information or advice, you should consult your Course Adviser, Head of Department, Faculty Officer or the Dean, in that order, as the situation demands.

Finally, I would like to remind you that your parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, community and Nigeria are looking up to you to make the best use of this God-given opportunity which you now have so that you can be a bigger asset to yourself and society in general in the near future.

Once again congratulations.

Professor Cletus O. Akenbor
Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FACULTY

At the inception of the University in 2012, the Department of Accounting and Finance was established to run the Bachelor of Science degree programme in Accounting and Finance as an integral part of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. So, although conceived as a separate faculty at the inception of the university, it was not until December 16, 2014 that the Faculty of Management Sciences was created under the leadership of the then Vice Chancellor, Professor Mobolaji Aluko. Dr. Francis A. Oluleye was appointed the Coordinator of the faculty. He was later made the Acting Dean of the Faculty, thus becoming the Pioneer Dean of the Faculty.

Upon the creation of the new Faculty, the Department of Accounting and Finance was immediately transferred from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences to the new faculty. At the inauguration of the faculty, the Coordinator was charged with the following responsibilities:

(i) Identifying all that is required to get the faculty properly running;
(ii) Put up a structure for the running of the faculty;
(iii) Develop new academic programmes to be run by the faculty; and
(iv) Identify academic staff needs of the existing and proposed business and management science academic programmes.

The Department of Accounting and Finance graduated its first set of undergraduate students in the 2015/2016 academic session.

At the expiration of the tenure of Dr. Oluleye, Professor Barnabas Agbonifoh was appointed as the first substantive Dean of the faculty for the 2016/2017 session. He remains the dean to date.

DEPARTMENTS AND ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES OF THE FACULTY

The faculty currently has four departments which offer five undergraduate degree programmes as follows:

(i) Department of Accounting which offers the B.Sc. degree programme in Accounting;
(ii) Department of Banking and Finance which offers the B.Sc. degree programme in Banking and Finance;
(iii) Department of Business Administration, offering the B.Sc. degree programme in Business Administration; and
(iv) Department of Entrepreneurship and Marketing which offers two programmes, the B.Sc. degree programme in Entrepreneurship and the B.Sc. degree programme in Marketing.

There are plans to introduce the bachelor’s degree programme in Hospitality Management and Tourism   as well as Human Resources Management in the near future.