By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Plateau State Governor, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang has assured that the Plateau State Bokkos University will top the priority of his administration considering the unique roll education plays in developing young people.
The Governor said with his passion for education, the State owned University will equate the world best by the time his admission’s plan is fully implemented.
Mutfwang stated this on Thursday in Jos when the Pro-Chancellor of the Bokkos University, Prof. Ibiora Ike led Management of the Institution to pay him a courtesy call.
Speaking in a statement signed by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mr. Gyang Bere, the Governor said it is imperative for the public to know that his administration will not relent until the institution competes favourably and emerges the country’s number one.
According to him: “Education is not something we should over emphasize because it would have been a tragedy if Plateau State University was not up and running.
“One of the biggest assets we have on the Plateau is the human asset and I believe that there is no better place to train human capital than in the ivory tower.
“Therefore, it has become incumbent on us to ensure that Plateau State University does not only exist but that it is supported to become a centre of excellence.
“I share the passion and commitmentuu towards education and I don’t want us to have a University just for the sake of it. It should be able to compete with its peers across the globe.
“To this end, wherever I have reason to interact with top government functionaries, and foreign diplomats, I will also take it as a duty to promote Plateau State University.”
“I am currently talking with the Bulgarian Ambassador to Nigeria on a possible collaboration with our higher institutions of learning to train and retrain lecturers.
“These are some of the steps I have taken to revamp and connect the institution to the global community.
“I will constitute myself into the Chief Advocate of the progress of the University. We came in with a lot of constraints on the ground. I tell people that I am not a politician but I am into politics and therefore, when I make statements, I don’t make them out of Politics.
“I speak the reality on ground and one of the realities we found on ground is that we have a huge liability. Therefore, the focus of this administration is on wealth creation so that we can lift our people out of poverty. Because if we do not find a way of increasing the capacity of the government to generate revenue, all the requests we have made will become a mirage.
“We are putting plans in place to ensure that we expand the Plateau economy, and that is the only way we can increase government revenue to enable us to service the social sector. I am confident of the plans we are about to roll out, before long, they will begin to yield the desired dividends”, he said.
He lauded the Pro-Chancellor for the selfless service he has rendered to the University and the value he has added to the institution by connecting the school to the global society.
Earlier, the Pro-Chancellor congratulated Mutfwang on his emergence as the true winner of the governorship election in the State and described him as God fearing.
He informed the Governor that the University has not received subvention in the last 5 months, adding that the staff has refused to join the State civil servants who are currently on strike.
