The Nation Newspaper

Tag: BSU

  • Eulogies as BSU marks 30 years of existence

    Eulogies as BSU marks 30 years of existence

     Former Vice Chancellor, Benue State University, Prof.  Akase Sorkaa has called on the Benue State Government to help protect the lands and property of the institution for the good of the people of Benue State.

    Speaking at a public lecture marking 30 years of Benue State University, Makurdi, Prof Sorkaa observed that the issue of encroaching and taking over BSU lands was a big challenge.

    He said the phenomenal growth of the university into a centre of excellence was attributable to the kind of choices made by the political leadership based on their vision and mission of satisfying the yearnings and aspirations of the people for university education.

    Sorkaa stated that the future of BSU now has much to do with the choices that are to be made by the present government of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia for the good of the people of Benue State and Nigeria, at large.

    Read Also: 15 escape death as private jet overshoots runway at Ibadan Airport 

    Earlier, Chairperson of the occasion, Prof Charity Angya, who was also a former Vice Chancellor of the institution, said BSU was celebrating excellence, quality, productivity and going higher.

    Vice Chancellor of BSU, Prof Tor Joe Iorpuu, in his remarks, acknowledged the quality of graduates being churned out, which he noted, have made the institution proud across the world.

    State Commissioner for Education and Knowledge Management, Dr Frederick Ikyaan, who was the distinguished guest, expressed Governor Alia’s commitment to ensure BSU attains greater heights in academic excellence.

  • Bodies of two BSU students found in River Benue

    THE bodies of two students of Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi, who drowned in River Benue on Friday have been found by a search and rescue team.

    The two students are Adakole Christopher, a 100 level Math, and Computer Science student and Miss Emmanuellla Mson, a 100 Level Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS)  student.

    The Nation learnt that the deceased  had joined three other students for swimming in River Benue.

    However, it all turned sad when the two students swam deep into the river and were drowned.

    The three remaining students rushed back to the campus, which is located on the bank of River Benue, and reported the incident to the school authorities.

    But, this was very late into the night, which hampered rescue operation.

    The following day – Saturday, the body of Christopher was first found. It was immediately buried at the bank of River Benue, in accordance with Idoma tradition.

    The deceased was Idoma  and according to traditions, drowned persons are buried at the bank of the river, where their bodies are found, to prevent reoccurrence of such in the family.

    The body of Miss Emmanuella Mson has also been found.

    Miss Emmanuella hailed from Gboko Local Government Area in Benue State.

    The Vice-Chancellor of BSU, Prof. Msugh Kembe, who confirmed the incident in an interview with The Nation at his lodge, described it as “unfortunate and sad”.

    The vice-chancellor said the university sympathised with the family, students and relations of the deceased.

    The university has set up a committee to probe the remote and immediate cause of the incident.

    Prof. Kembe added that students had been warned not to swim in River Benue without a guide or life jackets during orientation.

    He hailed the  Marine Police and President of the Student Union Government (SUG) of BSU Kizito Wachihi Joseph, who mobilised a search and rescue team of students and others, who found the bodies.

    Wachihi described the incident as “unfortunate” and “black day for BSU students”.

    He prayed to God to grant the deceased students eternal rest.

  • Training for eight BSU dons

    For participating actively in programmes organised by Tuning Africa Phase II project, Benue State University (BSU) has been selected as one of 14 universities to train academics in capacity building.

    Tuning Africa is a collaborative, consultative project involving academics working in subject groups with employers and other stakeholders in curriculum development to enhance students’ competences.

    The programme is aimed at organising and providing opportunities for African universities with capacity  to design  and  develop curricula,  provide  opportunities for generation of additional resources and support effective and productive networking.

    General meetings have benn held for the project, an initiative of the “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership” in Accra, Ghana; Cairo, Egypt and Brussels, Belgium.

    For   BSU,   the   opportunity came when the organisation provided a window for African universities to compete for a few vacancies in the second phase of the project.  The BSU won the award to compete after a keen competition.

    The university won with a proposal on a programme in Masters in Technology Education, following   which Prof Emmanuel Echor, Head Department of Curriculum and Teaching, represented the university in Cairo at the inaugural meeting between October 12  and 14 2015.

    Having successfully participated in three editions of the programme, he was handed the group’s franchise to train more academics with the aim of creating opportunities for staff and students’ mobility within and outside African universities for both learning and employment.

    Of the 14 universities in Nigeria that are enrolled for the project, Benue State is one of the two state   owned universities, whose proposals admitted them into the prestigious scheme.

    Academics in BSU, who participated in the programme organised by the Department   of   Education   Curriculum and who were presented certificates included, Prof Emmanuel Achor; Dr Joseph Obida; Dr Benedict Labe; Dr Naomi Doki; Dr Terungwa Adzende; Dr Bernard Tyubee and Dr Chris Orngu.

    At a ceremony where the participants were formally presented their certificates, the Head of Department praised their perseverance while on the programme.

    The   Dean,   Faculty   of   Education,   Prof   Batur   Gbenda   Laha,, expressed hope that more lecturers in the university will be accorded the opportunity to participate in the programme.

    He also implored the Head of Department to incorporate aspects of the programme into the course content of the Faculty to enable more lecturers without Professional teaching qualification hone their skills.

    The Vice-Chancellor,   Prof Msugh Moses Kembe, represented by  Deputy Vice- Chancellor (Academic), Prof Edward Agbo Omudu, urged the participants to ensure that their acquired knowledge permeates down the ladder.

    Tuning Africa project is intended to reach out to higher institutions in Africa and the rest of the world to produce graduates that will be comparable in knowledge acquired in their   discipline   by   raising   comparable   objectives,   learning   outcomes   (using   generic competencies) that are focused on what the learner should be able to do.

    With   this, Tuning projects   programmes will create possibility for staff and students mobility within and outside Africa and make graduates generally employable wherever they find themselves.

  • Ortom tasks BSU on funding

    Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has tasked the management of the Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi to explore other ways of additional funding to help it meet the increasing challenge of running the institution in an era of dwindling state resources.

    Ortom who spoke at the second professional induction and admission ceremony for the 2016 medical graduands of the College of Health Sciences, Makurdi, said that though the government is committed to meeting all its obligations to the institution, the time had come to emulate the practice in developed countries.

    The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Benson Abounu, congratulated the college management and teachers for their commitment to excellence.

    He said that the graduands were lucky to have as teachers such a crop of highly skilled and experienced professionals and called on them to strive to excel in their practice.

    Earlier, the vice-chancellor, Prof. Msugh Kembe, thanked Ortom for the timely release of funds for the accreditation of programmes of the college, which led to the graduation of the medical students.

    He called for the release of overhead to the school as well as further financial assistance to help the college meet the requirements of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for increase in the admission quota for medical students and other pressing needs of the university.

    Former Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, Dr. Matthias Oyigeya, who was guest speaker at the event called on the new doctors to keep to the ethics of the medical profession and avoid anything that would bring it into disrepute.

    Benue State chairman of the Nigeria Medical association (NMA), Dr. Obekpa Obekpa formally welcomed the graduands into the association and admonished them on good conduct and to patiently learn from senior members of the association.

  • Ortom cancels Bsu levy

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has directed the immediate withdrawal of conditional charges introduced by the management of the Benue State University. He ordered that staus quo should remain.

    He directed the management to refund those who had already paid the new charges.

    Governor Ortom stated that he took the action following repeated appeals from stakeholders in the university including prominent citizens, parents, students as well as the general populace.

    He said as a democratically elected governor, he has a responsibility to be sensitive to the plight and views of his people.

    He assured that the state government would explore other avenues to raise internally generated revenue to address the concerns that made the university to introduce the charges.

    “We are also verifying the sources of income of the university and if we see that there is need for a review of the conditional charges we shall seek inputs of stakeholders including members of the State House of Assembly,” Ortom stressed.

    He regretted the discomfort and pains which the development might have caused. Ortom also praised both management and students of the institution for not allowing the issue to spiral out of control.

    He expressed appreciation to all those who took time off to raise the matter with him personally or at other appropriate forums.

  • BSU sacks Registrar, Bursar

    BSU sacks Registrar, Bursar

    The Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, has kicked out its Registrar Dr Timothy Utile and Bursar, Mr Aondoakaa Kwaghfan for alleged corruption.

    The decision to sack the duo was taken after were indicted by the report of a seven-man visitation panel set up by Governor Samuel Ortom to review the activities of the institution from 2010-2015, most of which was during the tenure of former Vice-Chancellor, Prof Charity Angya.

    The Chairman of the panel, Prof Zachary Gundu, while submitting the report to the Governor last December, had alleged that principal officers of the institution were involved in fraudulent practices.

    “Each Principal Officer in BSU collects a Housing Allowance of N6, 418,280 per annum as against N649, 939 per annum in extant salary scales.

    “This means that for every month, BSU Principal Officers collect N534, 856.67 per month as housing allowance instead of N54, 161.00 per month. There are other instances of payroll manipulation in respect of allowances of Principal Officers, especially the Vice Chancellor.

    “Council had also approved the renovation and furnishing of the VC’s Lodge for the former Vice Chancellor at the cost of N22, 398,318.00. This money was given to her directly. Yet when she moved into the Lodge, she was given a furniture grant of N20 million. She vandalised the Lodge when she was moving out,” he said.

    It is believed that these allegations and more led to the sack of the Registrar and Bursar, who were key figures in the past administration of the university.

    The governing council of the institution has also been dissolved.

     

  • Ortom advises BSU panel on openness

    Ortom advises BSU panel on openness

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, has charged members of the visitation panel to the Benue State University (BSU) to ensure confidentiality of presentations received from parties.

    He gave the charge at the old banquet hall of the Peoples House while inaugurating the panel to review activities of the university.

    He said by keeping the confidence of those concerned, they would feel free to make contributions without fear of reprisals.

    “Individual members of staff as well as the public at large should feel free to contribute positively. The visitation panel was a stock-taking exercise targeted at the comprehensive review of activities of Benue State University during the period under review,” he said.

    “The university community should see the visitation as an opportunity to honestly review their activities and present their views.”

    The terms of reference of the committee, amongst others, include: to inquire into the level of implementation of the White Paper of the last visitation report and to examine the administrative structure of the university in line with the law establishing the institution.

    The panel is also to establish the actual students’ population into regular and non-regular courses against the accredited facilities.

    The seven-member panel, which has Prof Zachary Anger Gundu as chairman and Iorpenda Tanguhar as secretary, has two months to submit its report.

     

  • A house divided against itself

    A house divided against itself

    IT has been 10 months since the inauguration of the present Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the Benue State University (BSU). But they have been months of unease for the executive.

    The executive is led by Jeff Mngu, a 400-Level student of Accounting. The union parliament is headed by Titus Hindan, a 400-Level student of Sociology.

    Almost immediately the executive’s tenure began, the SUG was enmeshed in administrative crisis. Some contentious issues resulted into a struggle in the union. Despite the crisis, the union leaders believe that they are doing well.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the crisis caused by the deduction in the constitutional take-off grant for running of the parliament. According to Innocent Okwori, 200-Level Medicine and member representing the Faculty of Basic and Allied Medical Sciences, a part of the house grant was diverted by some union officials. He said the take-off grant was N450,000, but only N200,000 was released to the house.

    Samuel Korzerzer, member representing the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, said: “Some principal officers, who went to the Dean of Students Affairs office for another thing discovered that the amount released was actually more than the N200,000. We confronted the president and the secretary-general but they were trading blame between themselves.”

    Titus denied that the take-off grant was diverted, saying the problem was caused by communication gap between the parliament and the executive.

    He said: “I don’t think the take-off grant was diverted by the executive. Though none of us knew that the money was supposed to be N450,000. The president only released a part. When members discovered that the executive did not receive all the money due to the House, tension built up. I met with the president and he told me that the union had financial challenge. He promised to pay as soon as some money was remitted into the union’s purse. I can say that it was not a diversion.”

    Jeff said: “We went to the Bursary unit and discovered underestimation of the money meant for the house. There was an error in the addition of figures and when it was corrected, the remaining part was released. If I diverted the money, I would have been removed as president.”

    After the take-off grant controversy, the union ran into a budget row. A member of the parliament said he could not remember if the House ever debated or approved any budget from the executive. The member said when the budget was presented to the parliament, the principal officers claimed there was no money to make copies for members for consideration. “The only time they (executive) came to us was when they came to present their committee members. Another time was when we summoned the President, Secretary-General and Director of Welfare. None of us except the principal officers ratified any budget. How was the budget approved?” he queried.

    Titus admitted that the parliament did not approve the budget. He said: “When the House wrote the executive for the budget, they were delaying the process. The president kept shifting date. Later, he brought me part of the budget while the executive was working on the other part. The budget was still being worked on when the crisis began. We went on break, hoping that when we resume, we will consider bills pending before us. We could not do so and there was no iota of truth in the fact that principal officers ratified the budget.”

    But as far as the President is concerned, he sent a budget to the parliament for consideration. “They received it. I gave them a budget personally. When I came in, I discovered that my tenure was very short, so I used my resources to put together a budget and sent it to the Speaker. Later, the parliament wrote to me that they needed allowance to deliberate on the budget and I gave them, but since then, I have not received any reply from them. So if they are saying that I did not send them a budget, it is left to them. But I believe they cannot deny the fact.”

    The Speaker of parliament was having trouble at every sitting. Members quarrelled over the sharing formula for the take-off grant balance. According to one of them, members had expected the money “to go round”, but the Speaker and the Clerk, Terfa Ingbiankyor, allegedly took out huge sum and claimed it would be lodged into the parliament’s bank account. “We were not satisfied with how they spent the first part of the money. So we tried to call the Speaker for a brief informal meeting to iron out the differences. Before then, he went behind to call some members and tried to induce them with money, which they rejected,” a member said under anonymity.

    The Speaker and the Clerk were later asked to convene a sitting but they allegedly refused. After Titus was asked severally to convene parliamentary meeting without doing so, members gathered and elected Tony Onazi, a Law student, as Acting Speaker.

    In the meeting presided over by Tony, Titus and the Clerk were impeached for failing to respect the parliament’s decisions. Fighting back, the impeached officials reported the development to the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof Armstrong Adejo, claiming that they were removed through an alien constitution.

    Samuel said: “When we met with the Dean, he asked us which constitution we used and we showed him. The Dean said the constitution was not recognised by the union but we told him that Titus gave us the constitution. Titus denied before the Dean that he gave us the constitution. We were going to use the old constitution to continue with the procedure, but the Deputy Speaker intervened and called an informal meeting during which we demanded a refund of the money Titus mismanaged. When that was done, we upturned the impeachment and recalled the Speaker.”

    Titus denies the charges, saying in all processes, the constitution should take its course. Another allegation the Speaker faces is that, he single-handedly approved the union’s secretariat project. But Titus said a good number of the parliamentarians consented to the project to continue.