The Federal University Wukari was established in 2011 by the federal government of Nigeria, led by the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, the school was established as one of the nine schools established at the time. Federal University Wukari is located in the town called Wukari in Taraba State, Nigeria.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

As a way of addressing the critical problem of qualitative access to tertiary education, the Federal Ministry of Education decided to implement the extant government policy of equitable educational development of Nigeria, by establishing federal tertiary institutions in every State of the Federation, where they do not currently exist.

To this end, a memorandum was presented by the Minister of State, Education to the Federal Executive Council, at its 39th Meeting held on Wednesday, 10th November, 2010, requesting for the establishment of 44 additional tertiary institutions nationwide, to address the twin challenges of access and equitable educational development of States in the Federation.

Council, in its wisdom, however, approved the establishment of twelve new universities on the basis of equity and access. Nine universities were approved for take-off under Phase I of this initiative. Sequel to the above approval, a twelve-member Committee, under the chairmanship of Prof. Julius A. Okojie, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, was inaugurated by the Honourable Minister of State, Education, Olorogun Kenneth O. Gbagi on Thursday, 11th November, 2010, to among other assignments, develop the modalities for the location and take-off of these universities.

The report of the Technical Committee was presented to the Honourable Minister on Monday, 15th November, 2010, in compliance with the ministerial deadline for the submission of the report. For the effective take-off of the nine universities drawn from all the geo-political zones, the Honourable Minister of Education accompanied by the Director (Tertiary Education) Federal Ministry of Education and the Executive Secretaries of NUC and ETF, visited the identified States.

With the support of the State Governments, permanent as well as take-off sites were identified. These were subsequently approved by the Federal Executive Council. Council also approved the sum of N1.5 billion for each University to be sourced from the Education Trust Fund (ETF).

The Federal University Wukari, Taraba State, was one of the nine universities approved for take-off under Phase I of that initiative. Mr. President, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,GCFR, in his capacity as Visitor to the nine newly established federal universities, appointed Vice-Chancellors and Registrars for the universities on February 7, 2011.

The nominees were inducted into office by the Honourable Minister of Education, in the conference room of the Federal Ministry of Education Headquarters, Abuja, on Wednesday, 9 February 2011.

Faculties

Federal University, Wukari has six faculties comprising 25 departments:

• Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences

• Faculty of Humanities, Management, and Social Sciences

• Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences

Vice Chancellors

The Federal University Wukari has since its inception had vice-chancellors who have been the administrative head of the institution. The pioneer Vice Chancellor was Prof. Geoffery Okogba (2012-2016). In March 2016, Professor Abubakar Kundiri was appointed as the 2nd vice-chancellor of the institution, during his tenure as vice-chancellor, most of the courses offered in the school became accredited. Professor Abubakar Musa Kundiri was on seat as the vice chancellor for five years (2016 – 2021), until January, 2021 when Professor Jude Rabo, a veterinary professor, after undergoing series of screenings was announced as the winner and appointed as the new vice-chancellor of the institution to succeed Professor Abubakar Musa Kundiri.

Ranking

Federal University Wukari has been ranked the 87th best University in Nigeria by Webometrics as of January 2020.