Uche Amunike
Nigerian students under the aegis of the National association of Nigerian Students, (NANS), has appealed to the authorities of the Bauchi State University, to temper Justice with mercy by revisiting their recent decision to expel some of their students and reinstate them.
Their plea was made available to the press in a statement signed by its Director, Administration and Strategy, Prince Mohammed sani on Tuesday.
Sani clearly stated in the release, that based on meeting with student leaders and stakeholders, they found out that the students were indeed guilty, having gone against the institution’s ethics and values. He however gave the assurance that they have shown remorse since they were expelled and also turned a new leaf.
The association went on to make a case for their unalloyed support of the state government for the institution.
His words: ‘based on our consultation with students leaders and stakeholders in the institution we found out that our students that were expelled from the institution were found guilty as they acted contrary to the ethics and values of the institution.
We are against the pattern of our students in the institution that goes against the values and ethics of the institution. We have hope and confidence on the management, that they will temper Justice with mercy. We equally call on the Bauchi state government to continue giving support to the institution’.
They extolled the vice chancellor of the university, Professor Auwalu Uba, for the numerous roles he has played in ensuring that there is development, peace unity and progress in the institution.
They went on to pass a vote of confidence on him for his exemplary leadership style, nothing that the management of the university had never relented on its commitment to the welfare of his students’, he added.
He averred that NANS shall continue to adopt dialogue with the institution on students issues.
He said: ‘We salute the management of the institution for their commitment and dedication towards students welfare. NANS shall continue to dialogue on behalf of our students because confrontation cannot solve our problems. We equally commend the Bauchi State government for its milestone achievements in the education sector. We call for more adequate funding for Bauchi State University in line with best global practices, he concluded.
Still on tertiary institutions the Vice Chancellor of Osun State University, (UNIOSUN), Professor Labode Popoola, has charged tertiary institutions in Nigeria to partner with each other and work as a team.
He made this assertion during the renewal of four years Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU), between the University of Osun and the University of Gambia at their main campus in Oshogbo.
He charged that no university should be underrated by any standards whether by age or country.
Hear him, ‘they probably have something we also don’t have. We share resources that they have and what we don’t have, we can share from them and they can share from us. In the past 4 years, many things have happened. We didn’t have Covid-19 in 2017, so there was nothing like zoom or virtual teachings.
In his response, the Registrar University of Gambia, Dr Momodou Lamin Tarro, posited that the lack of access to high-level professors was part of the challenges facing his institution due to low funding.
He stated,’ one major challenge is that of high-level professors. We started like 21 years ago and it has been very difficult to recruit high-level professors simply because of low funding.
With this kind of collaboration there had been exchanges of lecturers, professors that will eliminate the problem to a very large extent. With this MoU, professors will be coming from University of Osun to the Gambia and will be on honorarium.’
