By Adeniyi Adedeji, Ilorin
In the aftermath of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher institutions across Nigeria, the Kwara State University, KWASU, Malete. has announced its resolve to live on its internally generated revenue, IGR, instead of resorting to loans for survival.
Consequently, the new Vice Chancellor of KWASU, Professor Mohammed Mustapha Akanbi, said that the institution will embark on new strategies to shore up its internally generated revenue and practice this dependency on its IGR for the next five years, in addition to expected government grants.
The institution had allegedly suffered denial of funding by the immediate past government in the state running to about five years; a development which was said to have worsened towards the tail end of the regime, when it was discovered that records showed that the university was being credited to get regular subventions that never was, running into millions of naira.
Featuring on the ‘Newskeg’, a regular news programme organized by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Professor Akanbi said every avenue would be explored by him to change the face of the university.
He said, “KWASU will be self-sustaining in the next five years, without seeking loans from banks. One of my vision is to improve on our IGR.”
Explaining further his reforms in the institution, Akanbi said, “One of the reforms I embarked upon is to introduce the much popular faculties systems instead of the college being operated before.
“We also want to introduce tenure on administrative staff. All head of departments, directors and others now have tenures. It’s not proper for someone to remain in a particular position for years.”
Bemoaning the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector, just like other sectors, Professor Akanbi disclosed that his university had since adopted online teaching and learning, which said did not allow disruptions in its programmes.
He however opined that the system could not be said to be the best, pointing out that the situation had shown that professors should now be more up and doing in research work and inventions to tackle the current global challenges.
Akanbi added, “A way forward for our professors is to ensure they go into quality-oriented researches. Research must be providing solutions to problems and not just for the sake of doing it. It must spell out benefits which would be better than what obtained in our present situation”.
The Vice Chancellor, who is the son of Justice Mustapha Akanbi, said that with good concentration on agriculture, the economy of the nation, the state and indeed, tertiary education would swell up to meet the demands on all sides.
He added, “KWASU had written a proposal to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to fund its agriculture program, we plan to go into farming so as to be able to augment our finances and also assist our host communities and others.”
