El-Rufai Orders Reopening of Tertiary Institutions in Southern Kaduna

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has ordered the reopening of tertiary institutions in the southern part of the state about nine months after they were closed down.

The College of Education, Gidan Waya, the Kafanchan Campus of the Kaduna State University (KASU) and the School of Nursing, Kafanchan were closed down in December last year following security challenges that rocked the area.

The state Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, announced the reopening of the schools yesterday when stakeholders from Southern Kaduna paid him a visit at the Government House, Kaduna.

He said the reopening of the schools was due to the marked improvement in the security situation in the area.
The governor also disclosed that the state government had decided to adopt a multi-campus structure for all its tertiary institutions, a decision that would ensure the location of at least one tertiary institution to every local government area.
The governor explained that the new policy has been approved by the state executive council as a means to expand access to higher education and make accreditation of courses more cost-effective and respond concretely to the desire by several communities to host tertiary institutions.

According to him, a multi-campus structure will help to make the state’s tertiary institutions more inclusive and expand the range of courses that students can study by making most courses available in all campuses.

“This multi-campus policy will be implemented in a way that assigns at least one tertiary institution to each of the 23 local government areas. The laws of some of our institutions are already being amended to reflect this,” he said.

He reiterate the commitment of the state government to transform KASU into a world-class university in the long-term.
The governor thanked the delegation, which included the Catholic Bishop of Zaria, Bishop George Dodo and Air Commodore E. K. Jekada (rtd), for helping to stabilise and restore peace in Southern Kaduna.

“I salute you for helping to uphold a common humanity, for keeping the voice of reason alive. It is voices like yours that are helping to anchor peace, upsetting the designs of people who think that a relentless focus on ethnicity and religion is the best way to advance their personal agenda.

“We are determined not to allow anyone to profit from strife. Thank you for your contributions to the steady advance of peace,” el-Rufai said.

Members of the delegation applauded the governor for reopening the schools and for adopting the multi-campus structure.

Bishop Dodo who spoke on behalf of the group, said it was clear that the state government has good intentions and was doing a lot, urging however that more efforts should be made to communicate what is being done.