Academicians urge Badaru to rescind decision on Kafin- Hausa varsity.

Academicians have kicked against the sudden withdrawal of  2 per cent deduction of the state 27 LGA’s statutory allocations as a support to educational growth and development of the state owned varsity, SULE LAMIDO Kafin – Hausa by the Jigawa state, Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (MON).

Describing the stance as insensitive, and misleading, one of the pioneers who championed the establishment, Professor Mohammed Tabiu said “The sudden withdrawal of this zonal support to our advanced tertiary institutions was short of a shy ploy to the destructions of the emergence university as a cardinal legacy of Lamido’s administrations “.

He contended that the normal and zonal interventions on any given higher institutions was meant for servicing capital projects, academic staff training and development, and off-course research development, arguing  that without these supports the institution cannot meet up the current challenges of academic pursuit to compete with the present time challenges.

Also speaking, another academic staff of the university who spoke on condition of anonymity defended the external supports that was about to be shelved as saying it helped the varsity in numerous ways such as the execution of capital projects, staff trainings, and development, among other viable spending meant to forge the university forward.

According to him, we are not spending the much cried funds recklessly only on the development pattern of the institution, no more, no less. Basically Sule Lamido University was established to accord emphasis on eighty to ninety percent concession admission and support to Jigawa indigenes for them to gain admission into university in which parts of such external support’s was utilized for such purposes, stressing upon all that some parents hardly cope in settling their wards registration fees due to short-falls in purchasing power.

But to Governor Badaru Abubakar the inherited law from the past administrations which stipulates that the state 27 LGA’s should contributes 2-2 per cent of their statutory allocations, alongside state government commitment towards funding the state owned university was unfair, hence our resolve to change the law, adding it is not the responsibility of local administration to fund university, rather state government responsibility.

His argument was that most of the state 27 LGA’s usually found it extremely difficult in meeting up to their demands due to economic downtrends, and after all the responsibility of funding tertiary institutions wasn’t a responsibility of local administrations, rather state government.

In a related development, state government and the 27 local government councils will continue to fund the running of Sule Lamido University Kafin Hausa until the bill to amend the law is passed into law in January next year. Special Adviser to the state Governor on Higher Education, Muhammad T. Muhammad made this known in a statement issued in Dutse.

He said this was part of the resolutions reached at the joint meeting with Governor Badaru Abubakar, the University’s Management, ASUU representative and the state commissioner for Education held at Government House Dutse. Muhammad T. Muhammad stated that the meeting agreed that when the bill becomes law in January next year, local governments will continue contributing two percent to the funding of the institution, while the state government will pay the deficit of one third of the initial deduction.

The Special Adviser added that, the state government agreed to pay seventy five percent of annual scholarship for Jigawa state students for three consecutive years to enable the succeeding administration starts on a clean slate in the running of the University.