Emerging threats to the survival of Yar’adua university

To make his vision a reality, he established a highly technical committee of experts to produce a roadmap for the establishment of the university. The committee was headed by a well-known University administrator (Professor Munzali Jibril) who was previously the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission. Among the major recommendations the committee made to […]

To make his vision a reality, he established a highly technical committee of experts to produce a roadmap for the establishment of the university. The committee was headed by a well-known University administrator (Professor Munzali Jibril) who was previously the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission. Among the major recommendations the committee made to the governor, three are particularly worth noting here.

First, that for a world class University to be established, the Katsina State Government (KTSG) must continuously invest heavily in provision and maintenance of infrastructure befitting of a world class university. This the governor accepted and implemented with one heart by putting in place physical infrastructure such as roads, buildings, drainage and related facilities that one cannot see in most universities in Nigeria. The infrastructure are such of a world class that when the first NUC accreditation team went to the university in 2008, many of the team members could not hide their satisfaction with the high standard.

Second, the committee advised that the university must be heavily funded to meet its recurrent demands of teaching and research, maintenance of facilities, provision of staff and students welfare amongst others. The committee argued that without adequate provision of all these, it is going to be impossible for the university to retain its exisiting staff, let alone attract new qualified ones to make it a real university. The committee argued that a university is supposed to be in a position to attract the best staff from anywhere and this can only be done if there is in the university at least the basic conditions that are expected in a typical university. To meet up with this, the governor provided a take-off/stabilisation fund of N5.5billion to the university. With this, the University was able to effectively meet its recurrent demands so much that the university was able to start paying the then newly introduced Consolidated University Salary Scale I (CONUASS I) and Consolidate Tertiary Institutions Salary Scale I (CONTISS I) much ahead of even some federal universities and all state universities in the country. At that time, the management of the university with approval of its council started the implementation of the new salary not just because the Governor Yar’adua administration has financially empowered the university with billions of naira, but also because of their convinction that the university must be at par with all other universities on the issue of salary payment or else its staff will be forced to move to other universities.

Third, the committee advised that the University should be made to open its doors to the outside world so as to attract the best brains to it. With the huge initial financial investment, the officials of the university were able to make contact with not only different universities in Nigeria but even outside the world and this led to recruitment of several such staff on visiting and permanent appointments. It was never a problem for the university to achieve this then as not only that they have the money to pay, but they believe that the conditions of service (especially salary) of the university must be exactly the same as in any other university in Nigeria.

By meeting up with these three major, among many other challenges, Yar’adua was able to put in place a very solid state of the art phase I of the university on its permanent site along Dutsinma Road on the outskirt of Katsina within five months (January 2007 to May 2007) with just some completion works remaining by the time he finished his term as governor.  In Nigeria, many political leaders do not believe in building on the solid foundations laid by their predecessors. Unfortunately for the university, Governor Shema is seemingly one of such leaders.  Infact, since he took over as governor,  Shema has not spent much on capital projects in the university nor has he sustained the massive recurrent funding the former governor was giving the university, contrary to the wild claims the charlatans championing his media campaigns are now making. The only new project he has added is that of construction of a convocation arena which is still a work-in progress which when you look at the real developmental challenges before the University, you can describe as a white elephant project. If not for the few intervention projects by the Education Trust Fund (ETF), the physical outlook of the university is still as the late president made it, which is quite unfortunate. The irony of it is that the state is neither poor nor indebted to anybody and Governor Shema himself has been beating his chest about it. One is certainly at a loss as to what exactly is the aim of the governor in forcing the growth of the university to a halt.

Towards the end of 2009, the federal government introduced a new salary structure for university workers (CONTISS II and CONUASS II), with 1st July 2009 as the effective date of commencement. Governor Shema has not helped efforts to commence the payment of this salary in the university. Thus while all the state universities in northern Nigeria have started paying or agreed to start paying the new salaries, the KTSG said it can’t pay the new salary in full, but rather has to negotiate it downward. This is sad given that in the history of education in northern Nigeria, Katsina has for long been ahead of every other state. One needs to be reminded here that the Katsina college was the first of its kind to be established in the region and several learned scholars were produced by the Katsina region in the past. Thus, while Katsina is supposed to lead for others to follow when it comes to matters of education, the government of Shema is now taking the state to the back seat. To make real his intentions, the governor has just approved the commencement of implementation of his new version of the approved salary, with a substantial reduction in the quantum of salary that will eventually go to the workers.

But it is very important to remind Governor Shema that any difference, even of N10, between the salary UMYU is paying and that which other universities are paying is enough reason for staff of the University to move to other universities once they get such opportunities of getting salaries that are N10 higher. It is also a good reason to prevent new staff from coming to UMYU since there are other Universities that will give them N10 salary higher. Whether one likes it or not, trained university staffs are exceptional categories of manpower that a society cannot toy with. Thus, while it is always easy for the governor to be using huge resources of the state to put together rented crowds across the state to sing his praises, no amount of propaganada can attract high quality manpower to the university. since such manpower are well informed of his antics.

Shaiskawa wrote from 17, Shaiskawa Quarters, Katsina