The Acting Vice Chancellor of Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi (MOAUM), Prof. Simon Ubwa, has said a funding gap subsists despite huge resources committed by government in running the institution.
Prof Ubwa stated this while interacting with a group of Journalists in his office on Friday.
He said however that faced with this major challenge, the University was doing its best to narrow the gap with its Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR).
According to him, the challenge has continued to impact negatively on operations of the institution despite efforts put in by the state government through serious financial.
Prof. Ubwa who described university education as a capital-intensive venture, acknowledged government’s significant commitment to it, noting however that the demands of the institution far outweigh available resources.
“Over time, the university has been complaining of poor funding, the governor is making extremely frantic efforts to support the university by paying the entitlements of staff, and I want to say that if you know how much the state government is committing to the university, you will truly appreciate the government, but university funding is capital intensive,” Prof Ubwa stated.
He added: “In as much as government is putting in so much finances, we still require more because this university has a student population getting close to ten thousand (10,000), while our staff strength, from the junior to academic personnel, is approaching three thousand (3,000).
He noted that with over sixty (60) academic programmes, many of them indexed programmes, there was so much pressure on the system while the fees paid by both undergraduate and postgraduate students cannot meet the university’s needs, especially with added obligations like pensions.
Ubwa also identified poor student response and rising insecurity as other critical issues affecting MOAUM.
He added that many parents are peasant farmers who can no longer access their farms due to security concerns and that the ugly development directly affects their ability to pay school fees for their children.
“A good part of our state is inaccessible due to herders crisis. It affects people’s income and consequently, every other thing related to education funding. A good number of our students are unable to pay their user charges. For example, two days before our matriculation ceremony, only about two thousand (2,000) out of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-one (9,991) students paid and registered. This led to repeated postponements of the matriculation until we could no longer extend it,” the Acting VC said.
According to him, “200 level students and above who are currently sitting for exams, only about five thousand (5,000) out of twenty thousand (20,000) registered. That means around fifteen thousand (15,000) did not. In our system, if you don’t register, you can’t attend the lectures or write exams, but due to these realities, we sometimes have to relax the rules.”
He nevertheless expressed confidence that the Benue State Government can cope adequately with funding needs of both MOAUM and the newly established University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Ihugh.
“The government can fund both institutions. In fact, I contributed a bit to the structure of the new university. The appointed Vice Chancellor is well known to me. From the beginning, the governor charged them to be innovative and seek alternative ways of funding. Because of the nature of their programmes, they have already formed partnerships with foreign organisations that will support their funding.
“On our part, we are also planning to explore broader avenues to increase Internally Generated Revenue. Their university is unique and can attract certain external funding. Our funding models will not be the same”, he said.
