Why it is difficult to recruit experienced staff for new universities – VC

What’s the current status of your take-off site?The take-off site was acquired from Kebbi State Government. It was a new secondary school that has not been used by government. The university will maintain the site even after moving to its permanent site. More classroom facilities and additional structures are being constructed. A new faculty is […]

What’s the current status of your take-off site?
The take-off site was acquired from Kebbi State Government. It was a new secondary school that has not been used by government. The university will maintain the site even after moving to its permanent site. More classroom facilities and additional structures are being constructed. A new faculty is also under construction which comprises 50 office blocks and classrooms, four laboratories and four studios. This is in addition to the 100-seat capacity lecture theatre that is currently in use.
How much was your take-off grant?
The university got N1.5 billion take-off grant from the Federal Government. We were able to utilise the fund not only for the take-off site but also for the establishment of the permanent site. The Federal Government, in addition to the grant, is also going to build two faculties, one administrative block, one library and one ICT centre.
What about the TETFUND intervention?
The 2014/2015 TETFUND programme is to establish eight more laboratories and 400-bed male hostel. While Phase I of the College of Health Science will get six laboratories each in departments of anatomy, physiology, medical biochemistry, pharmacology and community medicine.
What is the number of the university’s staff?
For a new university, there is no fixed number of staff because recruitment is a continuous exercise. Nevertheless, there are about 160 non-teaching staff and 190 teaching staff currently working in the university. The university just conducted a recruitment interview and submitted the list to the Federal Character Commission which, if approved, will make the number of teaching staff in the institution 250.
How many professors do you have?
The university has two professors in each department. Some are on sabbatical, others are visiting professors and some are on appointment.
How soon do you intend to move to the permanent site?
We intend to move to the permanent site in June 2015. The take-off site will be converted into school of basic studies. We are also hoping to introduce Faculty of Environmental Science by September this year and the faculty will comprise departments of architecture, building and environmental science.
Can you tell us about some projects at the permanent site?
Work on the permanent site at Unguwan Jeji, along Kalgo/Bunza Road is being carried out by about 14 contractors and structures are at different stages of completion. Going by the level of work done, the university is hoping to move to the permanent site in June. The permanent site will be sitting on 861.423 hectares, with about half of that earmarked for the proposed school farm that will comprise plantation of moringa trees, fish ponds, poultry farming and other agricultural projects. There is also a data centre meant for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which is at 90 % level of completion.
What about students’ hostels and lecture theatres?
The 500-bed capacity male and 500-bed female hostels, 600-seat capacity multi-purpose theatre, 4-number lecture halls of about 100-150-seat capacity, central laboratory comprising biochemistry, industrial chemistry, microbiology, pure and applied chemistry laboratory among many other buildings at the permanent site, are at different stages of completion. We also have two blocks male hostels and one female hostel currently occupied by our students.
How many students are enrolled?
There are 491 students currently studying in different departments. The students came from different parts of the country. The admission policy is like the one offered in other universities. We cannot admit all the applicants because there is no way we can admit beyond the number we can handle adequately. We don’t want to stress our facilities.
How many faculties do you have?
The university started with two faculties and 20 programmes. We have faculty of science and faculty of arts, social and management studies. Under the faculty of science, we have programmes like applied geo-physics, physic electronics, biochemistry, biology, micro-biology, mathematics, computer and statistics. In faculty of art, social and management studies, there are the accounting, business administration, demography and social statistics, sociology, political science, geography and economics. The arts component of the faculty is history, international studies and English language.