I ‘ve attracted more funds to Taraba varsity – Prof Tenebe

Professor Vincent  Ado Tenebe is the Vice Chancellor of Taraba State University, (TSU) Jalingo.   In this interview with AYONI AGBABIAKA, the former VC of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) says Taraba State University has the potential to become the best university in Nigeria if adequately funded.

What is the university management doing to avert future strikes?

The strike that occurred in this university some months ago started from the national strike. ASUU chapter of this university decided to join the national strike in solidarity. Well, that strike lasted for about four months after which our local chapter continued with their strike to demand for the things they were asking for even before the national strike.

Well, we tried our best to proffer solution to their demands. I am happy now that we are back from the strike and both staff and students are all busy to ensure that they catch up with the time lost. On our part, we will try our best to ensure the promises made to the staff are kept. We will also encourage the government to keep to their own side of the agreement to ensure that we don’t have such occurrence in the future. We will try our best to ensure harmonious relationship between staff and students to avoid future dispute because it is not in anybody’s interest.

What is your response to the allegation that you wasted the university fund by travelling all over the world?

Laughs… That is funny because I always travel on official duty, and it is my right to use my official entitlement to carry out official duties, which are of benefit to the university. Here is Taraba State University, but every major funding we need comes from Abuja. So if I don’t go and participate in the meetings of vice chancellors, Federal Ministry of Education, Central Bank of Nigeria or TETFUND and all the others, we can’t get the funds we need.  I have attracted more funding, TETFund projects and opportunities to the university since I came on board.

All over the country, there is no state university that can boast of funding its university all alone. There is a lot of federal government participation. So, when I travel from here, I go to Abuja and that is all. I don’t go on any personal journey with official funds. Go and find out from the records. I do go on personal journey which I use my personal money because I earn my salary. So, I don’t travel for nothing more so that there are more risks associated with travelling than staying in one place. So, all this is a false accusation that holds no water at all.

What do you say to the allegation that the university incurred debts running into a billion under your watch?

What evidence do they have to show that we incurred such debt? They are just spreading rumours. They should come with figures and the persons we owe. When I took over this university, of course there was debt. I tell you there is no organisation, including the states and the federal government that is not indebted. There is no business that does not have assets and liabilities. But to come out to say we are in debt of such an amount is a false and malicious accusation which cannot be proved. Anyone that says so should come out and show us the facts.

What is the financial status of TSU?

Actually, let me inform you that in the whole of Nigeria, there is no university that can tell you it is adequately funded, and that is the reason why ASUU has been on strikes. Of course, this country, like so many others, cannot say we have all the funds that we need for our developmental needs. So we normally utilise what is available to get what we can get.

When I took over in this university, it lacked funds. All the funding requirements, even by the Act of the university, were not being implemented. But as I took over, I began to manage with the funds that are available. For example, it is in the Act establishing this university that five per cent of the total allocation of local governments should be sent to this university to fund it. But since I came here, it has never been implemented and that is putting us in some predicament.

Even before I came, the total salary of the university was not fully sent by the government. We kept augmenting it because we cannot halt work solely because we didn’t get all that we want. So, I don’t think we have any problem managing what we have now. But we are only pleading and praying to get more, work hard and generate some income. There is no much internally generated revenue (IGR) in this university because we are not in a business environment in Jalingo. But that notwithstanding, we are trying to bring up some projects that can generate revenue. I always tell people not to refer to fees from students as IGR because all of that are tied to certain activities.

If they are paying for accommodation, you must provide it, if they are paying for examination, you must administer it and if they are paying for ICT usage, library facilities or identification cards, you must provide them. We provide a caution deposit and you have to return the caution deposit. So, when you look at all the charges, they are tied. But people think that because students are paying all these, we should use that money to pay the salaries of staff? No. This is a public university and all public universities are supposed to be funded fully by the government because that is its responsibility to the people. And that is why all children who are qualified to go to any public university, no matter their position, are given equal chance. So, it is not true that we are charging and utilising the money recklessly.

Why did you divert over N70m TETFund grants for training lecturers aboard as alleged?

Go and find out. I have staff members who are under TETFund sponsorship. But you have to be qualified and get a university that is recognised by the federal government before you can be sponsored. And all sponsored candidates are to receive the money in bits, not at once. The money will be given as you progress. Some of the staff members, not only in this university though, want the money to be given to them in bulk which is not possible. Some people who were given such money in the past only took it and failed to go for the studies. So, what is obtainable now is that if you do not meet the requirement, there won’t be any disbursement of the money.

When you are in for a course of three years and you are given N10m in all, it means you are given about N3m for a session, but you want to collect the money for the next session which is yet to commence. We have not diverted any money. In fact, we have some staff that went abroad even without TETFUND approval whom I met them on ground. I provided money meant for other things entirely to salvage them and worked with them to that stage. So, where is the money that was diverted?

Money can’t be diverted from TETFund’s account because we do have TETFund auditors who come to observe our books regularly. The auditors have not written anything to say we have diverted their money. So all this is a mere rumour.

What is your reaction to the allegation that you are employing workers without recourse to extant laws?

Let me tell you, this university is short of staff in all our departments. Secondly, nobody gets a job here without recourse to due process. When I need to employ somebody on temporary basis, we still ensure that person is qualified and goes through an interview with the head of departments and management. We give such persons temporary employment, with the plan that he will face a well constituted interview panel of the council, and if he is found qualified, his appointment will be confirmed and if not, he would leave. So, I have not employed anybody without due process or someone who is not qualified. In fact, I have vacancy for employment and the only thing stopping us is the lack of fund. So, to say that we are employing people without due process is nauseating. See, we have many people from Taraba state who are looking for and qualified for the vacant positions but we lack funds. So, this rumour of employing people without recourse to due process is not true.

What of the allegations that you are employing only friends?

Go and look at our employment records and the records of our staff. You will see the state and local government they come from. I’m from Plateau state but I have not employed one person from my local government. Most of the employees here are from Taraba state. It is only when we cannot find people from Taraba state to occupy a vacant position, that  we extend such to other people. Like now, I need a professor of Physics but we don’t have any from Taraba state. Interestingly, I have not got anyone from Nigeria, so if you can give me an application of a professor of physics, I can provide immediate employment. We also need professors in engineering and health sciences and so on. 

The university is not where we can operate based on quota system. The term university connotes a universal entity where anybody from any part of the world who is qualified can be employed. This is not a political entity where you must employ people who are not qualified. So, these are just false allegations. People who are peddling this rumour do not understand the business of universities and that is why I excused them.

What would you describe as milestones in the two years you served in the university?

Many of them are there to be seen. I don’t like singing my own praises. I would have preferred that you ask some of my staff to mention them.  If tell you what I have achieved now, I might even underreport myself.

But I can tell you quickly that when I came to this university, I met only one functional professor on ground. He  is Bakare Aliyu, a professor of Agriculture and the other professor was on sabbatical. And as you must know, we can’t run a university without professors. The NUC recommendations state that you must have at least six professors per departments and we had about 35 departments in this university with only one professor. That is not done. So, I have been able to attract professors either on permanent, temporary, sabbatical or visiting basis. 

Also, I have raised the number of professors from one to 52, and that has given this university a quality space in Nigeria. We have been able to ensure that we provide the right leadership for our university. How could you run a university with assistant lecturers as heads of departments? Assistant lecturer position in any university is a training position, so why will such be heading a department? How can a blind man lead other blind men? That is not done. Meanwhile, I met 13 HOD’s who were assistant lecturers and I had to remove them. That had created bad names for me because some people were just proud that they were heads of department when they were not even properly trained. So, I sent them on further trainings because I don’t want them to produce substandard graduates.

What are the major challenges of the university?

Well, the major challenge of the university like any other university is funding. Then, the other challenge is that we are in an environment that is not prone to business, so we are not able to use our intellect to generate the funds that we need. The other challenge is that we are in shortage of qualified staff, especially academic staff. Then, I can tell you that even some of the staff on ground don’t want to come to work as they should because they had been brainwashed. When we try to correct them, they run to people like you in the media and say we are infringing on their rights. How can you gain employment and you don’t want to work? And when your supervisor asks you to come to work you’d say he hates you, or you use the ethnicity or religious tag in that regard.

Meanwhile, we have hardworking and dedicated staff in this university that have neither gotten into trouble with management nor anybody and we reward them for that. Same way we have others who are just like what we call the cattle-eaglets, who just want to get paid but don’t want to work for the pay. Another challenge is insecurity, and that is even all over Nigeria. My staff members are always harassed by kidnappers. I’ve had two of them kidnapped from their houses and also we’ve had attacks from hoodlums. So, we need funds to tackle the challenges and make sure the environment is secure by employing adequate security to help protect the institution. Without security, there is no way the staff and students can work.

What’s your advice to the state government on issues of insecurity?

We can only appeal to the state government and all stakeholders to help us make this university one of the best in the country and if not the whole of Africa. The only way we can do that is to bear the pain by providing adequate funding that will help us produce the best graduates that we need and the best university environment.

You see, university environment is where we build the mind and future of the students. It’s where people are moulded for the future. If a student is groomed in a dirty environment, when he goes out, that is what he is going to produce. But when you bring out a student in a corporate and an ideal condition, you are going to get people who will give you good product.  So, we need the state government, private organisations and well meaning citizens of this state and country to help us. I know if we sacrifice a little, we will have enough to produce the best from the university.

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