The Vice Chancellor, Federal University Kashere (FUK) in Gombe State, Professor Alhassan Muhammad Gani, explains why maritime studies have not kicked off in the institution, among other issues facing it.
You were appointed VC over a year now, what was the condition of university’s facilities?
I found out that the university was facing a lot of challenges in terms of staff working conditions, infrastructure and other facilities. There were a lot of issues concerning staff development, staff discipline and so on.
The structural development of the university has been going on at a very slow pace so to say, largely due to the inability to access funds to develop it as contained in the academic brief. So, we need to develop according to our academic brief by putting in place the required infrastructure so that we can open up new faculties, departments and other units that constitute the major components of the university. Right now we have some of the structures which construction is still going on while some have been completed and handed over to us.
How far have you gone in addressing the problems facing the university?
As you may probably know, since its establishment, the university has been at a temporary site mainly consisting of a renovated secondary school and a few other structures. The permanent site is very close to the take off site. When I assumed duty, all the projects had been abandoned so I considered it necessary to follow up the contractors handling the various projects. I had to move here and there to ensure that contractors returned to sites to complete the projects. There were almost 24 projects that were going on at a very slow pace.
It’s worthy of note that, so far, about 70% of the projects that I inherited have been completed, handed over to us and put to use. A number of them have been commissioned by prominent Nigerians like the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu who commissioned the female hostel while the Chancellor of the University, Agabaidu, the Och’i Idoma of Idoma land, Dr Elias Ikoyi Obekpa, commissioned the male hostel.
The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed commissioned the Entrepreneurship Development and Service Learning Centre while the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre was commissioned by the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) Dr Abdullahi Bichi Baffa.
In addition to those projects that have been commissioned, we have two auditoria, 250 seater capacity lecture theatre, two blocks of staff offices comprising of 24 offices each, 500 seater capacity lecture theatre all of which have so far been completed and handed over to us.
There is a significant progress on the abandoned projects. In the same vein, the library complex was also completed. The situation on the ground is that the pace of work on some projects that were slow has now increased. These include the administration block which is now at about 80% stage of completion and the two faculty buildings that were abandoned, but the contractors are now back on site.
Do you plan to introduce new programmes?
Yes, we are making efforts toward that. However, due to the paucity of funds the university couldn’t introduce new programmes in accordance with the academic brief. Plans for achieving this objective have nevertheless reached an advanced stage. The university senate has approved the establishment of the School of Preliminary and Remedial Studies. Accordingly, we have a constituency project coming up to build the school so that we will be able to train students to qualify them to gain admission into the university.
For the post graduate programmes, it should be noted that before you start it, the university must have its degree programmes approved and you have to graduate a number of students. Thank God we have held two convocations for our graduating students and the third one is in the offing.
We have presented our degree programmes for accreditation after which the Faculty of Science has obtained full accreditation of all its degree programmes namely; Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics.
Similarly, the Faculty of Humanities Management and Social Sciences has also obtained full accreditation for courses such as English, Economics and Development Studies, Political Science and Sociology.
Just recently, in May to be specific, we presented 12 programmes for accreditation to the NUC and out of these programmes, 10 obtained full accreditation status while two secured interim accreditation. Having achieved this feat, we applied to the NUC for permission to start postgraduate studies and the commission has given us the relevant documents which have been processed together with the curriculum for all the courses that we intend to offer in the post graduate programmes all of which have been developed and sent to senate for approval. And
after that we would submit ourselves for resource verification by NUC, after which, by the grace of God, we shall obtain approval to commence postgraduate studies.
What is holding back the takeoff of the Institute of Maritime Studies of the university years after its establishment?
The Institute of Maritime Studies was established in the year 2015 to support the university in producing graduates that have knowledge in Maritime activities in the areas of Humanities. Though Kashere, being in the hinterland and not close to the ocean or sea, the institute would focus on training staff in the areas of Law, Finance, and Biological Sciences.
Accordingly, the hosting right was given to FUK by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). The agency gave us 60% take-off grant which was used to acquire a land at Hinna, close to Dadin-Kowa River and Dadin-Kowa Dam about 30km east of Gombe, the state capital, which will be used as a research station for staff and students.
Similarly, a state government skill acquisition centre based here in Kashere has allocated a space for us to host the institute. We are waiting for the 40% balance of the take off grant to forge ahead.
