Plateau Varsity, Polytechnic Get New VC, Rector

*Al-Muhibbah Open University begins academic session with 14 courses

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos and Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has appointed a former Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Shedrack Best, as the new Vice Chancellor of the state university in the Bokkos.
The Governor also approved the appointment of Dr. Clement Chirman as the new Rector of the state polytechnic.
This was just as the management of Al-Muhibbah Open University, announced the commencement of academic programmes by the institution for the 2023/ 2024 session.
The appointments by Mutfwang, which came a day after their immediate predecessors were sacked, were contained in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Samuel Jatau.
It noted that the governor also appointed three new heads for other state-owned tertiary institutions.
The statement reads: “His Excellency, the Executive Governor Caleb Mutfwang has approved the appointment of the following heads of tertiary institutions in the state. They are Professor Shedrack Best, Vice Chancellor, Plateau State University, Bokkos; Dr. Clement Chirman, Rector, Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi; Associate Professor Lazarus Maigoro, Provost, College of Education, Gindiri; Dr. Jonathan Bulus, Provost, College of Health Technology, Zawan; and Dr. Markus Avong, Provost, College of Health Technology, Pankshin.”
Urging the new appointees to swing into action by looking into the relationship between the management and staff as well as the sources of income and expenditure of the schools to reposition them for effective service delivery, the statement added that all the appointments were with immediate effect.
The governor had, the previous day sacked the former VC of the University, Professor Bernard Matur, and heads of other state-own institutions. The governor also approved the dissolution of the Governing Council of the university with immediate effect.

But Butura nation, host community of the university has condemned the sacking of the institution’s former VC, describing the action of the governor as illegal and against the growth of the institution.

In a statement signed by Butura Youth President, Marshal Sule; and Secretary, Tabai Kawai the host community insisted that the former VC had done nothing wrong to warrant his removal and called on the governor to reinstate him immediately

Meanwhile, the management of Al-Muhibbah Open University has announced the commencement of academic programmes by the institution for the 2023/ 2024 session.

Registrar of the university, Muslim Maigari, announced the development while addressing journalists at the end of the institution’s management meeting held in Abuja.

Al- Muhibbah Open University University is among the four  private universities licenced recently by the National Universities Commission  (NUC) to operate open and distance learning in Nigeria .

Maigari said the university is ready with well motivated staff and tutors to give learners unique experience.

The approved programmes are Business Administration, Economics, Accounting, International Relations, Marketing, Project Management and Entrepreneurship.

 Others are Computer Science, Cyber Security, Software Engineering, Public Health, Nursing, Science, Data Science and Analytics and Healthcare and Hospital Management.

Speaking on the approval of the academic programmes, Maigari expressed delight at the development, noting that the institution is well prepared to take off.

He assured the public and prospective students of smooth and hitch-free academic session adding that the management of Al-Muhibah University has put all the needed resources both human and materials in place to ensure smooth academic activities on the main campus in Abuja and Bauchi.

 “We are very delighted to receive the approval from the NUC to commence academic activities with those fourteen courses,” the registrar said.

“Al-Muhibbah Open University is founded on a strong moral foundation and desire by the founder to serve humanity and provide equal educational access to the disadvantaged segment of the society, especially women, physically challenged and vulnerable youths to access sound and qualitative and open distance education with in-built 21st-century skills.

“The approval of the programmes is a culmination of a lot of activities by the management to ensure that we don’t leave any stone unturned for a smooth take-off.

“I can assure you that we will offer quality education to students both far and near based on our learning mode, which is distant e- learning. This is one great opportunity for Nigerians and those outside the country to benefit from the open-distance learning that we are here to offer.”