By THOMAS AKASE, Makurdi –
The Government of Benue State has been advised to create of a Ministry for Higher Education to supervise tertiary institutions in the state and add value to human capital development, employment generation and technical expertise has been advocated.
This is one of the recommendations made by the Benue State University (BSU) Visitation Panel in its report presented to Governor Hyacinth Alia in Makurdi on Monday.
Chairman of the BSU Visitation Panel, Professor Ukertor Moti (in suit), handing over the panel report to Governor Hyacinth Alia, represented the SSG, Prof Joseph Alakali (l) in Makurdi
The Visitation Panel, which was inaugurated by Governor Alia in August 21023 to audit the state-owned university, also called for a Statewide Stakeholder Summit on Higher Education in Benue State towards a corporate level strategic development planning for sustainable skills and knowledge relevant in the fast-changing world is proposed.
Chairman of the Visitation Panel, Professor Ukertor Gabriel Moti, while presenting the report, noted that the BSU “needs to be more prioritised by the State Government beyond the commendable recurrent support for salary payments, to include strategic infrastructural funding as currently 80% of capital project is sustained only by TETFUND.”
Prof Ukertor Moti delivering his speech while presenting the panel’s reportHe stressed that the law already in place for local councils 1% project support to BSU needed to be implemented to enable projects that would deepen the quality of research and learning in the institution if the university is to remain relevant to be completed.
As part of measures for greater efficiency and cost saving, Prof Moti noted Panel’s recommendation to trim down the current bogus size of members of the Governing Council which currently stands at 22members (both external and internal), amongst other system overhauling.
While suing for improvements in internal financial processes and labour relations, the Panel Chairman frowned at the weak capacity of Registry and Establishment units that because of poor capacity or apathy, create bureaucratic anomalies that have made work environment uninspiring and cultured around secrecy, poor feedback, suspicions of injustice, and weak understanding of the workings of the university system.
He recommended that once Council of BSU is constituted, a staff audit to ascertain both relevance and capacity be carried out.
According to Prof Moti, “Panel has overall established a 1:79 staff to student ratio which is not acceptable.”
Prof Moti extolled BSU global visibility and rating especially the quality of graduates and global accolades for Centre for Food Technology and Research (CEFTER) of the university adjudged to be among the 5 best out of 25 world bank centres of excellence in Africa.
Entrance gate of Benue State University, Markudi
In his response, the Governor, represented by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof Joseph Alakali, assured of government’s commitment to raising BSU to become a great institution.
Also responding, the state Commissioner for Education and Knowledge Economy, Rev Dr Frederick Ikyaan, promised timely action on the report, adding that a committee for the white paper would be inaugurated to ensure relevant structures like constitution of a Governing Council is put in place immediately to carry out recommendations of the white paper to be issued soon.
The report is contained in 3 volumes, with volume 1 as main report, volume 2 the proceedings and volume 3 petitions.
Governor Alia had constituted the 7-member Visitation Panel to BSU headed by Prof Moti for the period 2016-2023.
All the other members of the Panel were present, namely Prof Kwaghkondu Agber, Prof Okpeh Okpeh, Dr Christiana Ekoja, Cmrd Peter Igeegye, Dr Joseph Nyager and Barr Simon Orkumah as Member/Secretary.
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