How Kwara university survived without subvention for 5 years

The Vice Chancellor, Kwara State University (KWASU) Malete, Professor Abdulrasheed Na’allah, who was appointed 10 years ago with the mandate to ensure that the university produces the best graduates with emphasis on community and entrepreneurship development, would leave office on 27th July. KWASU which had 500 students at the onset, on December 17 2009, now […]

The Vice Chancellor, Kwara State University (KWASU) Malete, Professor Abdulrasheed Na’allah, who was appointed 10 years ago with the mandate to ensure that the university produces the best graduates with emphasis on community and entrepreneurship development, would leave office on 27th July.

KWASU which had 500 students at the onset, on December 17 2009, now has 15,000 students. It has entered into different partnerships with universities abroad within the period.

In its first five years of incubation, the government provided subventions to it without a break while monies generated from the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and grants from different sources, especially those given by TETfund, were said to have helped KWASU grow ahead of its peers.

The subsequent five years, according to Prof Na’allah, were distressful as the management had to device means of getting funds to keep the university afloat because the state government had stopped its financial support to it and other state-owned institutions. That was as a result of shortfall in federal allocation to the state due to the economic recession the country entered into for some years.

“KWASU in the last five years has not received subvention from the state government but we have been able to meet up with our obligations.

“Not receiving subvention is not the best for our university education and I won’t recommend such for any university in Nigeria. When the federal allocation dropped, the governor invited us and explained the situation to us that government won’t be able to pay subvention any longer. I mapped out strategies and submitted proposal to the government.

“The university would have been better with the subvention. In fact, I want to recommend that more subventions should be given to the university,” Na’allah said.

He said the management raised funds to run the university including N21 million obtained by a professor to develop drones.

“We strategised and worked together as a team to get our work done. We also sourced funds from other means to supplement our internally generated revenue. Our personnel also developed themselves through various grants they were able to secure.

“One of the professors recently won a grant of N21 million to develop drones that would monitor oil pipelines and curb oil crimes in the country,” Na’allah also said.

Also, in addition to Arabic and French languages, Prof Na’allah announced that a general course in Japanese language would start to further open the students to foreign languages.

He added that already, the university has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Japanese university on transfer of knowledge, while the university has also agreed with Japanese industries in developing biofuel in Nigeria.

On security, the vice chancellor disclosed that through the establishment of Advanced Military Studies, the university is determined to develop intellectual ability of military personnel to adopt sophisticated method in fighting terrorism and other crimes confronting the nation instead of engaging in physical combat.

In the meantime, tension rose in the university after the state authorities asked the VC to embark on compulsory terminal leave and appointed an acting VC, leading to suspension of academic activities for a couple of days.

It was also rumoured that the VC was asked by the authorities to sign some documents indicating that he collected subventions in the last five years which he declined.