ABUJA – The University of Abuja (UNIAbuja) has urged the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, to assist in the completion of 12 abandoned projects in the institution.
The Pro-Chancellor of UNIAbuja, Dr Victor Folagbade, made the appeal during the minister’s inspection visit to the school on Tuesday.
Folagbade said there was no way the projects would be completed if they were not re-introduced in the budget, adding that the school needed a befitting Faculty of Arts in the main campus.
On his part, the UNIAbuja Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Michael Adikwu, said that many projects in the school were lying comatose.
“Some building projects have been abandoned; these are largely those that were started with the money from appropriation from annual budgets which has reduced over the years.
“We will continue to seek ways of improving our infrastructure through Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement for which many individuals have indicated interest.
“If we get N2 billion to N3 billion, we will be able to complete the structures; we need more lecture halls to increase access; we want to internationalise the university.’’
He appealed to the minister to assist the university in securing accreditation of some courses which he did not identify.
Adikwu said that the distance learning centre of the institution would be re-opened by November and thanked the National Universities Commission (NUC) for bringing back the centre on track.
Responding, Shekarau said that UNIAbuja should be the pride of the nation being hosted by the FCT and promised to do all he could to turn around its fortunes.
He said that shortage of funds was a multi-sectoral problem, adding that under the present administration, there should be nothing like abandoned projects.
“The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is not accepting anything like abandoned projects; we will do all we can to make sure that the project sare completed.
“On the issue of accreditation of your courses, I believe they will be accredited if you meet NUC’s requirements,’’ Shekarau said.
The visit was the first inspection visit by the minister since his assumption of office. (NAN)
