By Unusa Sale
Kogi east stakeholders has commended the management of Tertiary Education Trust Fund TETFund for watering down the deliberate efforts of Kogi state government that underfunded the ivory tower for consecutive eight years.
This was a fallout of an investigation carried out by the tabloid, that the state government never contemplated erecting a structure at the state university to favor others news ones known as CUSTECH and the newly established KSU in Kabba.
Despite the fact that the internally generated revenues of the university was been carted away through a well contrived state Single Treasury Account TSA, no meaningful project or rather a trip of sand was dropped in the premises of Prince Abubakar Audu University PAAU for eight years, as the only achievement was renaming the Institution from KSU to PAAU.
The stakeholders drawn from the nine Igala speaking local government area under the leadership of Comrade Jibrin Mohammed berated the state government for it’s inactions against the university, that would have reverted the Institution to a glorified secondary school.
With the structures wailing for renovation, the yearly intervention of TETFUND has not only sustained the university, but secured it’s assets across the over 500 hectares university community from encroachment, through fencing of the entire land mass.
He commended the intervention of both organised private sector, well to do individuals for their community service through provision of laboratory and hospital equipment, laptops and renewable energy through provision of solar street lights on the campus.
Prince Abubakar Audu University PAAU established in 1999 after two decades had lost most of it’s qualified academic staff to state government high handedness, with most them abandoned their jobs and left, and also dearth of dilapidated structures wailing for attention.
PAAU now depended on sabbatical , part time, and visiting lecturers to meet up it’s yearly accreditation, disguising to NUC that they are permanent staff of the university.
With dilapidated internal roads, lopsided appointments both to the academic and non academic positions, most of it’s staff had gone on sabbatical, part time and used the opportunity to look elsewhere.
The same story was left of the Kogi state College of Education Ankpa KSCOEA, College of Health Technology Idah, all tertiary institutions located in Kogi eastern part of the state.
The leeway of the two tertiary institution was the citing of TETFUND projects across the college, as the yearly intervention had nipped in the bud , Kogi government plans to shut the colleges through underfunding.
The divide and rule extended from the political front to the both education, health and other social services in the state , eight years down the line has left a gory state of public facilities particularly in the eastern flank of the state.
Imagine , an institution, a university belonging to the state government denied of any structure for eight years, what would have been the intentions of the government.
During the previous administrations of the late Prince Abubakar Audu, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris and Capt Idris Wada all left an indelible mark on the Institution without consideration to sectional , religious or tribal sentiments both in employment, appointments and elevation, as the reverse is the case in the current dispensation.
Prince Abubakar Audu invested over 50B to set up the university over 20 years ago , while Alhaji Ibrahim Idris invested over 10B during his term.
Capt Idris Wada built structures worth 300M , established the university teaching hospital and faculty of medicine, a legacy that was sharp been eroded after eight years of the outgoing administration of Governor Yahaya Bello.