‘Delay in appointment of principal officers stalls Abuja tech varsity’

Facilities left to rot The excitement that heralded the establishment of the Abuja University of Technology Abaji (AUTA) is beginning to wane as structures on the main campus in Abaji, a largely rural area council of the FCT, have been abandoned and are rotting away. Earlier, a former Education Secretary of the FCTA, Senator Isa […]

• Facilities left to rot

The excitement that heralded the establishment of the Abuja University of Technology Abaji (AUTA) is beginning to wane as structures on the main campus in Abaji, a largely rural area council of the FCT, have been abandoned and are rotting away.

Earlier, a former Education Secretary of the FCTA, Senator Isa Maina, in an interview, said the university, which construction started in April, 2011, would start admitting students during the 2018/2019 academic session.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) is said to have approved the FCTA’s request to set up the university before the Senate passed the law for its establishment in 2018.

The main campus of AUTA boasts of every infrastructure that a new university needs to start activities, but it is now covered with wild grasses.

When our reporters sought to know what has delayed the take off of the institution, the Secretary of the Steering Committee for the Establishment of AUTA, Alhaji Isa Ismail, promised to provide the information by electronic mail, but later declined, saying the Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, had also sought to know from the committee why the institution had not commenced student enrolment and academic activities and that the information he had at his disposal would be submitted to the minister first before anybody could have access to it.

Daily Trust learnt that the start of the university is purportedly stalled mainly because of the inability of the FCTA to appoint its principal officers.

A reliable source privy to the workings of the steering committee disclosed to our reporter that the politics of appointing the vice chancellor, registrar, bursar, librarian and the recruitment of academic and non-academic staff was what was delaying the take off of the university; which peers took off many years ago.

The source said about 85 per cent infrastructure, including laboratories, library, hostels, boreholes, electricity and roads had been provided in the institution, but that they were lying fallow.

He further said, “In fact, if not for the regular renovation that we have been carrying out every year, most of the infrastructure would have decayed.”

He added that the only people manning the facilities were security men, but that, “Even the security men guarding the university hardly get their salary on a regular basis. In fact, recently, they received eight months’ salaries.”

According to him, the university’s budget is under the education secretariat of the FCTA, saying since the university had not taken off; it had no budget of its own.

The source explained that, “How can there be budget when the institution has not been formally commissioned to commence academic activities? You cannot make budgets when there are no staff; and no principal officer of the university has been appointed.”

Another source who also preferred anonymity, said the law establishing the university was passed by the National Assembly in 2018 and sent to the president for assent.

He further said since some tertiary institutions across the country commenced academic activities at temporary sites, there was no reason why AUTA which had structures in place could not offer courses.

The source added that the delay in the institution had dampened the morale of residents of the host community who had hoped that the commencement of full academic activities would open up the area for socio-economic development.

An educationist, Malam Haruna Mohammed, while speaking with our reporter, said the university would be impactful both socially and economically as it would create jobs in the formal and informal sectors.

Malam Mohammed said the opening of the university would also address the issue of adimission quota which always put the indigenes of the territory at a disadvantage when they were seeking admission in higher institutions.

He further said the traditional rulers in the area and some stakeholders had tried in ensuring that the university was opened for academic activities.

Another educationist, Michael Sule, said when the university comes on board it would help in dealing with admission crises being faced by prospective students year-in-year-out, especially considering that every year half of the students who sit for UTME do not get enrolled.

The Director of Information and Public Relations at the National Universities Commission (NUC), Ibrahim Yakasai, said the commission was aware of the move to start the university.

Yakasai said, “Education is on the concurrent list, and the FCTA can start a university with approval from FEC and then NUC; that’s all.

“Once an approval is given and the university comes on board and we are contacted, we look at the sessions they have put on ground; whether they can operate as a university; then we give them certificate of recognition.”