Brief History

The initiative for the establishment of Crescent University, Abeokuta came from Proprietor, His Excellency, Prince Bola Abdul Jabbar Ajibola, SAN, KBE, LL.D, D.LITT, CFR who on Sunday, January 5, 2003 proclaimed his vision of the first Muslim University in Southern Nigeria during a prayer meeting (Adkhar) at the IMA Centre in Abeokuta. He expressed his desire to provide the platform and spearhead a change in the foreboding circumstances the Muslim Ummah had found itself, especially in the preceding two and half decades when the Ummah lost all its grips on matters of modern education. Lost along with it were the gains of the formative years of education laced with Islamic morals and the zeal of labouring towards the establishment of Muslim tertiary institutions. But after the deregulation of education in 1990 by the Government, the Christian Missionaries cashed on the opportunity to establish Nursery/Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions to the extent that they had 15 Universities without any by the entire Muslims in Nigeria. This propelled His Excellency, Prince Bola Ajibola to come up with the idea of the University encouraged by the success story of the establishment of Islamic Mission for Africa (IMA) and its Research Centre in Abeokuta, which is unprecedented in the entire African continent. The Research centre has facilities like IMA Hospital; Multipurpose Hall; Library and Audio Visual Centre; Guest Chalet; Nursery/Primary School; IMA International Model College; Imam/Curator’s Lodge and two storeys Mosque under construction.

The thought, desire and spiritual insight that has led to the establishment of the first Muslim University in Nigeria has now ensured that the next generation of Muslims will not be disadvantaged as the present generation.

The IMA Intellectual Summit

The Islamic Mission for Africa (IMA) organised an intellectual summit on July 5, 2003 to draw up a planning strategy for the establishment of the University.

The summit held at the Oba Gbadela II Hall, IMA Research Centre, Abeokuta had 70 delegates drawn from 8 Universities, 1 Polytechnic, 1 College of Education in the South-West; IMA and Nasrul-Lahu-l-Fathi Society of Nigeria (NASFAT). Professor Nurudeen Adedeipe of the University of Ibadan presided while Alhaji Silaimon Osho, Secretary General of IMA served as the Secretary.

It was an open, transparent and inclusive involvement of well recognised Muslims intellectuals, to define the appropriateness, determine the timeliness and chart a course for the realisation of the establishment of a Muslim University.

The IMA also held a meeting with Muslim Societies and association on Saturday, September 20, 2003 at the Oba Gbadela II Hall and was attended by 35 participants. They all promised to give moral and financial supports to the University.

The intellectual summit broke into IMA University Planning Committee; Academic Brief Panels for the colleges of Arts and Humanities; Natural Sciences; Education, Social and Management Sciences, Law, Health Sciences, Engineering and  Technology as well as Co-operational Farm Settlement/Commercial Agricultural Scheme (COFASCA).

The summit came up with the name of Crescent University after deliberating on seven options suggested at the summit.

The intellectual team eventually came up with the Academic Brief; University Law and Master Plan after three visitations by the members of Special Committee of Private Universities (SCOPU) of National Universities Commission (NUC).

The NUC eventually recommended the Crescent University for approval by the Federal Executive Council and on June 1, 2005, the Federal Executive Council approved Crescent University as a private University in the Country. The licence was formally presented to the Proprietor, His Excellency, Prince Bola Ajibola, SAN, KBE, LL.D, D.LITT, CFR by the Minister of Education, Mrs. Chimwe Nora Obaji, on Thursday June 9, 2005.

The Philosophy

Without a single Muslim University at the turn of the 21^st century in the midst of existing ones that belonged to religious institutions or their affiliates therefore, Muslims were obviously faced with cataclysmic options which only education through establishment of their own tertiary institution could overturn. An institution that would aid the thought to produce the right actions; and in the belief of the profounder of Crescent University, it should and would be an institution that encourage education graced adequately with morality and spiritual thrust.

The Vision

The mission is to provide quality university education to humanity, irrespective of nationality, race, religion or gender. The vision of the University shall be guided by the following Crescent University philosophy:-

• The provision of access to education for the increasing population of eligible candidates
• Production of graduates imbued with character and earning, conscious of the fear of God in their daily life.
• Provision of an enabling environment in which teaching and learning shall be conducted in an atmosphere of peace, love and harmony.
• Motivation of candidates to develop entrepreneurial skills of survival in an ever changing society.
• Creating a new breed of generation imbued with loyalty to God, nation and fellowmen.

Objectives

Pursuant to the Philosophy, Vision, Mission and Mission Statement, the following are the main objectives as tools of achieving the overall goals.

i.                    To provide education for all in a multi-faith society. The quest here is to provide basic access to education as a fundamental human right promoted by the United Nations Organisation and guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.

ii.                   To produce graduates empowered with knowledge for sustainable living in an ever-changing world.

The crux of this objective is to arm the student with all it takes for that product after graduation, to live a decent life, with reasonable self-reliance on a sustainable basis, even in a changing world in terms of challenges of policy and economic dynamics-of-state.

This requires adequate and up-to-date physical facilities, including lecture rooms, laboratories, studios, health care facility hostels and office; and the mass use of information technology.

iii.                 To offer education guides by the Islamic principles and tenets of spirituality and moral discipline.

The intention here is to use the teachings of Islam as a veritable tool for ordering life with the consciousness of “doing good and shunning evil deeds” and for interacting with others with love, in harmony and in peace.

iv.                To promote exemplary research and services oriented towards the achievement of human development.

The emphasis here is that research shall span basic (fundamental) and applied (adaptive) typologies, but that these need to be targeted at human development, traceable to identifiable gains with “ground truth” realities. Consequently, staff and student must be carefully selected; research equipment and associated service must be adequate and well maintained.