By Gloria Ayanbimpe and Emmanuel Kwapyil
It was a moment of excitement for the Faculty of Education as two lecture halls were recently commissioned by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Professor Sebastian Maimako.
He expressed joy over the completion of the halls and commended the contractors –Maximum Carpentry Ltd. for a job well-done.
Prof. Maimako explained that the major reason the buildings had not been completed earlier was due to the challenge of funds.
The construction of the two halls had been completed over three years ago but lacked seats, tables and other accessories needed to make it comfortable for learning.
The VC urged students to use the halls responsibly and stated that the good maintenance of the halls would spur management to do more. He also charged the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Mary Haggai to be willing to share the halls with the Faculties of Social Sciences, Management Sciences and Environmental Sciences.
He expressed his displeasure at the way some of the facilities in the faculties have been destroyed and hoped it would not be the case of the new halls.
Concluding his speech, he assured of the university’s readiness to providing conducive learning environment for students and more buildings are coming up in order to fulfill this.
“From now on the names of these halls will no longer be ‘Lecture Theatres B1 and C2’ or ‘Chibok’ and ‘Sambisa’ halls as you are used to calling them but Prof. S. S. Maimako Lecture Hall 1 and 2”. He disclosed.
The Director of Physical Facilities, Arch. Halima Auta, admonished students to be careful in using the halls and urged them not to destroy or vandalize the facilities. She revealed that some of the materials used included salvaged metals from the burnt library building. She also recalled that students previously referred to the halls as “Chibok” and “Sambisa” halls due to their deplorable state, however, the state of facilities has changed hence the need to change nomenclature.
The Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Mary Haggai while responding to the VC, was visibly elated and expressed appreciation to management for the completion of the halls, stating that it has been a great need of the faculty. She assured the VC that the halls will be shared with the other faculties and would be used responsibly.
The commissioning was done as the keys were formally handed over to the VC who in turn handed them to the Chief Security Officer of the University.
