Plateau varsity stunted by infighting, meddling

About two months to a complete decade since its establishment, the school has just graduated its first set of students, but none of the courses being offered has been accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC). The institution experienced its first major drawback when barely two years into its academic sojourn, Governor Jonah Jang, on […]

About two months to a complete decade since its establishment, the school has just graduated its first set of students, but none of the courses being offered has been accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The institution experienced its first major drawback when barely two years into its academic sojourn, Governor Jonah Jang, on assumption of office in 2007, suspended all its activities, citing shabby infrastructure and poor staffing as reasons. Most of the students had to succumb to the rigours of seeking fresh admission into alternative schools.
The university was reopened four years later, but unexpectedly, infrastructure was still a huge issue and the staff strength remained pathetically low. The school also faces inadequate funding from the state government and constant change of vice chancellor is widely regarded as affecting the academic progress of the university. Four different VCs have taken office in just seven years of academic work.
Of even the buildings coming up, Daily Trust gathered that the state government, which is accused of being meddlesome and blamed for the instability that has caused the high turnover of vice chancellors, has little to its credit.
A lecturer in the institution who pleaded anonymity said, “TETFUND and special intervention funds are to complete two structures which were considered vital for NUC’s accreditation.
“If the TETFUND buildings had been completed early, there would have been enough offices and classes for staff and students. But right now, lecturers have no offices, they attend to students outside class hours in their cars.”
The lecturer also told our correspondents that a department such as Mass Communication has only two permanent lecturers with six visiting ones from the University of Jos, and that even if the courses are finally accredited by the NUC, it will most definitely be partial accreditation because of low number of lecturers and lack of necessary infrastructure.
Crippling infighting  
Shortly before the school graduated its first students last year, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Doknan Sheni, was given a six months’ suspension by Governor Jonah Jang, sparking another crisis that led to the closure of the school for almost two months.
Daily Trust gathered that Sheni was suspended over what the state government described as ‘inappropriate conduct’ and Professor Stephen Malo took his seat.
But Sheni’s suspension has triggered another cause for concern as to the level of complicity of the government in some of what constitute a cog in the wheel of the school’s progress.
Some lecturers believe the suspension of Professor Sheni was a culmination of a running battle between him and the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Board, Professor Sam Ale, allegedly over how the disbursement of TETFUND grants to the university is done.
Ale is an in-law to Governor Jang and was the immediate past Director General of the National Mathematical Centre.
Another cause for the disagreement, Daily Trust learnt was the reappointment of the governor’s kinsman, Professor Davou Dabi as Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) by the governor, which some staff had claimed was in violation of the university’s laws and have filed a case against the DVC and Governor Jang.
Besides insufficient staff and infrastructure, many emphasise that frequent replacement of VCs is a major reason why the university is not moving forward.
“Constant change of VCs affects continuity. To have four VCs in fewer than 10 years shows that there is a problem. Sheni had gone far in trying to get the school accredited. The school even had a successful mock accreditation and now he has been replaced by another VC who will have to start the process all over again,” a source in the institution said.
The university was nurtured by an implementation committee led by Professor John Wade who later became its pioneer VC. Wade was VC from its inception in 2005 to 2010.
Professor Nenfort Gomwalk who took over from 2011 remained there till early 2013 when Professor Doknan Sheni became the VC and ran the institution up to October 30, 2014 when he was controversially replaced by the current VC, Professor Stephen Mallo.

Graduates in limbo
The first set of ‘graduates’ stepped out of the Plateau State University last December. They are yet to submit their research projects. That should be the only thing left for them to become full-fledged university graduates, but because they are coming out of PSU, the projects which they have been given the 21st of this month as deadline to submit, will only amount to crossing their respective personal hurdle. A hurdle for the school itself remains: a major hurdle, that of getting the NUC to accredit its courses, a hurdle which is a responsibility of the school but which affects the students directly.
The students now wait anxiously for this accreditation to happen for them to know their fate. One of them, Alex Lutnaan, who was the Students Union Government (SUG) president until the graduation of his set last year, said management of the university assured them that much ground had been covered in the accreditation journey.
“The university management has told us to calm down, that they have achieved 80 percent of the requirements for accreditation, and that we would be cleared for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) by June this year,” Lutnaan told Daily Trust.
Ruth Mangut, a final-year student of Plateau State University (PSU), speaks of an issue that distresses her and her course mates: “We are feeling very sad; there is no comfort at all in knowing that you are about to graduate with no prospect of even going for service.”
Miss Mangut, President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the state-owned university located in central Plateau’s Bokkos, speaks for scores of 400 level students currently studying with the vision of a bleak future, the future of university graduates whose courses do not have the accreditation of the National Universities Commission (NUC), the federal government agency charged with the responsibility to approve programmes for all universities in the country.
Things have begun to change
When the university opened at its site in Bokkos, headquarters of Bokkos Local Government, it was for years unofficially termed a one-structure university. But today structures are rising there; lecture halls, staff rooms, laboratories, library and other academic buildings.
The situation has changed considerably in the last few months. Many structures such as students’ hostels have come up and all-round fencing of the site has come far. New lecture theatres, laboratories and quite a number of purpose-built structures are at varying stages of construction.
That would be the most tangible thing to cheer about the Plateau State University which was renamed Solomon Lar University in December 2013 to honour the memory of the state’s first civilian governor, Chief Solomon D. Lar, who was laid to rest that same month.