UNIJOS Vice-Chancellor Decries Paucity of Funds, Absence of Governing Council 

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jos, Prof Tanko Ishaya, has identified paucity of funds, lack of budgetary allocation, and absence of a governing council as major challenges the university is currently facing, adding that some lecturers have died, others have retired, while some have changed their jobs from the university but could not be replaced for these reasons.

Addressing the press to mark his second year in office, the vice-chancellor stated, “For over five years now, we have not been able to carry out recruitment exercises to fill vacant positions. We have lost many of our members of staff through retirements, change of jobs, and death. Some of these positions require that we recruit to avoid gaps.” 

“During accreditation exercises, these vacancies count against us. Our inability to recruit and have the requisite staff mix in our respective units, departments, and faculties does a lot of harm to our accreditation and resource verification exercises.”

In the absence of the governing council, Ishaya said the instrument that governs the university clearly states there should be a body saddled with the responsibility of handling policy matters. 

“The autonomy of the university is domiciled within the operations of the governing council. The absence of this all-important organ of the university greatly affects our operations,” the UNIJOS vice-chancellor disclosed. “So many things that require the council to preside over have been left in limbo. A typical example is the promotion cases of some members of our workforce.”