Philip Ekigwe (Student Editor)
The Governing Council of the University of Jos has held its inaugural meeting in the senate chambers of the university at the Bauchi Road Campus, Jos.
At the meeting, the Pro Chancellor and Chairman of the governing council, Chief Don Etiebet explained that the role of the governing council is not to take over the management of the university but to serve as a link between the management and the government. The “essence”, he stressed is to take “management pleas to government”.
He commended the management, staff and students for keeping things moving n the university despite various challenges.
In an address at the meeting, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Hayward Mafuyai, who went down memory lane to the inception of the university 38 years ago, said there are quite a number of issues that have remained pending due to the absence of a governing council in the university in the last two years.
These issues, according to Mafuyai, cut across staff promotion for 2010/2011, 2011/2012, the university budget, staff disciplinary cases, implementation of the visitation panel report 2004-2010, constitution of the board of the University Consultancy Limited (UCL).
He said because of the number of issues involved, the governing council will be under pressure at this initial stage of its mandate, but noted that addressing them will “ensure the smooth running of the university”.
He added that the challenges faced by the university have hindered its development citing “inadequate funding, lack of land for development, security challenges, ecological problems, infrastructural decay and the recent fire incident that gutted a library in the university” as some of them.
According to Mafuyai, “the funding from the federal government, both capital and recurrent, have been grossly inadequate. As at 10th April 2013, the university’s indebtedness to contractors/suppliers as well as staff claims stood at N269,731,868:17 and $87,308:00 respectively.
He said the university is currently experiencing what he described as “financial misery” because of a fall in its monthly wage bill, adding, “increasing cost of electricity power supply to the university and the cost diesel to power generating plants are issues to contend with.”
He also told the council that the dispersed nature of the university’s physical facilities, such as buildings, constitute security challenge as the staff and students who occupy them are at risk during crisis.
“Even though we have not witnessed any major incident of sectarian crisis on our campuses, our staff and students have always been caught in the crisis enroute to or from the university. To safeguard lives of staff, students and the university properties, management embarked on certain projects which included the perimeter fencing of all its campuses, provision of boulders to protect university buildings”, he said.
