By Chiangi Avese, Makurdi
Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has disclosed that the Governing Councils for the State’s Higher Institutions of learning will be constituted in the next ten days.
The governor made the disclosure on Tuesday, when he featured on a live porgramme on the Benue State University Radio station, BSU FM 89.9, to mark his one year in office.
Soon after assumption of office, the governor constituted visitation panels for the various institutions of higher learning in the state, the various findings of which the governor has already acted upon to ensure effective service delivery.
The governing council is the highest decision making body of higher institutions of learning charged with the general running of the institution including finances and property.
On when the governing councils for the Benue State University will be constituted, the governor said, “work on the formation of the various Governing Councils is almost complete, and they will be made public in ten days time”.
“In the next ten (10) days, we are coming with the formation of the University’s Governing Board and all the Higher Institutions in the state as well. Every other Boards and Commissions that we have not formed or announced yet, will be put up there as well”, the governor said.
Speaking on the achievements of his administration in office, the governor said, although there are a number of infrastructural achievements made by his administration, the ability of his administration to remain responsible and ensure the government remains accountable to the people, is the greatest of them all.
According to the governor, his administration has been able to block almost all the leakages that had existed in the civil service in the past, saving so much for the state in the process, promising to continue to deliver more good governance for the state.
The governor said his administration has achieved so much on security and is not resting on its oars to ensure absolute peace is returned, adding that anyone found adding to the destabilization of the relative peace the state is enjoying under his administration will be made to face the heat.
Governor Alia noted that Benue State University, was set up to ensure that no Benue citizen is left behind, adding that the government is supposed to complement the efforts of the parents in the area of tuition fees.
“If parents had suffered so much to find some room for accommodation for their children and wards, we need to complement their efforts in tuition. The teachers and the government ought to complement their efforts. We should not be the vehicle of pulling these young men and ladies back. We should rather ensure that they gain much”, Gov. Alia advised.
He described the Lecturers at the Benue State University as the best anyone can find anywhere in the world based on obtainable data; giving assurance that his administration will cushion the areas that are lacking.
He advised the Unions at the institutions of higher learning to always air their demands to the appropriate quarters, insisting that his administration will always do the right thing by taking care of the salaries and the welfare for the staff, adding that the thinking must change, especially, as his administration is all about development and growth, all aimed at the overall good of the entire state.
On the plans of his administration for students of Benue State University and other Benue Students far and wide, the governor said there are a lot of things his administration plans to do for the students including scholarships for the students.
“Although, what used to be, never existed for quite a very long time, we are giving some considerations into it. Part of the system benefited from scholarships and I never stopped questioning while those few individuals? If you want to run a scheme, then you run a scheme. There is a committee that is taking a closer look into that as well.’’
The Governor pointed out that, “there is a prorgramme of the United Nations that we have already commenced discussions on, to see how we can bring it to our University here (BSU). It is called uniport. The uniport system is to enable our students not just to keep a total focus on the classroom, but they should have something that creates wealth for them after graduation. It is something like skills acquisition.
“So the United Nations has got the programme and a number of African nations are gaining from that and since we have begun discussions with them on it, we will definitely become the number one University in the nation to break into this programme. And we are going to throw our entire weight on this because there are so many things our students can benefit from”, Gov. Alia enthused.
He revealed further that his administration has also brought back the bond scheme for medical students, saying he felt the other students should also benefit in some form too, which prompted the registration of SSCE for senior students in the state.
