As a current student of Professor Umar A. Pate at the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano, I must confess that his appointment is well deserved and could not have come at a better time. Professor Pate is not just a lecturer but a distinguished personality who is excellent in manners and mannerisms, human relations, conflict resolutions and social development. This is why the grandfather of journalism in Nigeria, Professor Ralph A. Akinfeleye, always describes him as the loss of University of Maiduguri and the gain of Bayero University, Kano.
We at BUK are very happy that our own is about to join Federal University of Kashere as the third vice-chancellor whom we are sure will make us proud by moving the baby university to greater heights. We are, however, jealous that we are going to miss a moving encyclopedia and a man of respect whose contributions towards BUK can never be measured.
At this juncture, I will like to remind the newly appointed vice-chancellor, FUK that every promotion comes with a lot of responsibilities. FUK is a new institution commissioned in 2011 by the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. And the university is faced with a lot of challenges.
One of the challenges is that about 90% of the staff of the university both academic and non-academic have to shuttle between Gombe to Kashere daily, which is 65 kilometres – 130 kilometres. This contributes much towards making lecturers less productive. Accidents occur, hold-ups sometimes delay and the long journey exhaust the lecturers leading to even missing of lectures.
This development is not unconnected to the fact that the university has fewer than 50 staff quarters in Kashere. The quarters cannot even accommodate the staff of three departments. This means that the incoming vice-chancellor has the task of embarking on massive construction of staff quarters if he wants to see visible change.
Another challenge of the university is that many lecturers have no offices. One of the lecturers who pleaded anonymity and have been lecturing for over six years informed me that he still uses his car as his office. This applies to many staff. If senior academic staff will be roaming using shade of trees and their cars as their offices, then how productive would they be? They at least need offices to charge their laptops, keep academic documents, plan their lecture notes and give students easy room to access their lecturers.
I have also gathered that some of the newly constructed blocks to serve as extension of departments are inhabitable because they are not electrified and watered. And it is difficult for
Still on staff welfare, sources narrated that the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alhassan Mohammed Gani, has been up and doing towards promotion of staff. The incoming has to sustain the tempo. As a communication scholar, Professor Pate must also ensure mutual understanding between the management and other staff.
On security, there is a need for employing additional security personnel as well as training and retraining the existing ones to make them productive. This will help to curb the burglary and theft that is bedevilling the university.
On the side of students, non-existence of Students’ Union Government in the university has been hindering the success and happiness of students who have grievances or suggestions. According to one of the students whom I interviewed, some of their hostels are not electrified, they depend solely on the generator which the school used to on from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. They are also facing challenges of water scarcity as well as inadequate number of hostels. Hostel inadequacy has forced students to rent rooms that are close to the school but expensive. Investigations revealed that landlords charge about N120,000 per room.
It is obvious that the dream of staff and students of Federal University, Kashere is to see that the incoming vice-chancellor lives above board and lives up to their expectations of ameliorating the difficulties they are facing and taking the university to greater heights.
Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol,
Mass Communication Department,
Bayero University, Kano
