The six-man committee set up by the management of Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK) to reposition the institution has presented its preliminary report to the university governing council. The chairman of the committee, a veteran university administrator and former deputy vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Professor George Kwanashi, submitted the report January 28, 2019 in the campus.
He said the committee carried out its assignment without fear or favour as it had interacted with members of the academic and non academic staff as well as government officials and other stakeholders to gather arrive at the findings. He stated that the running of any university worth its name shouldn’t be a one-man business.
The report was submitted in parts through the use of electronic projector under a peaceful atmosphere. The university staff, students, traditional rulers, stakeholders and principal officers, witnessed the submission of the report. Also in attendance was Professor Olu Jegede, former vice chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
Jegede said for a university to be addressed as a citadel of learning, setting abnormalities must be corrected, adding that the university which is 18 years old had attained adulthood. He said a number of the university’s senior academic staff, amounting to 43.8 per cent, is on sabbatical or on contract. The university don said such act is unacceptable in academic environment and those who have being benefiting from such should be disengaged and also refund the salaries they enjoyed while in the position from the period of engagement.
The committee recommended that university governing council withdraw staff who have been promoted to the rank of professor but do not have Ph.D. They also recommended that departments and centres created without due process and which could not meet the National Universities Commission guidelines should be removed.
Jegede stated that a university should run on teamwork and that research and education must become more closely integrated.
The committee which promised to summit its remaining report in phases said phase two and three which are on finance will soon be submitted.
In his remark, the governor of Nasarawa state and visitor to the institution, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, expressed gratitude for the committee’s findings and promised to implement every bit of the report.
Al-Makura, represented by commissioner for higher education, Dr Clement Uhembe, also said that other higher institutions in the state must undergo same exercise;
On his part, the pro chancellor and chairman, governing council, Professor Adamu Baikie, expressed shock on the committee’s findings and commendations and advised those who were indicted by the report to resign honourably before drastic action would be taken against them.
