Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has condemned the activities of Boko Haram, which in the past five years, have hindered many tertiary institutions from conducting convocation ceremonies in the state.
Besides, he noted that it was through convocation that best performing students were officially identified and rewarded by the government.
The governor stated this on Friday when top management team of the Nigerian Army University Biu (NAUB) led by the Vice-Chancellor of the federal institution, Professor Kyari Mohammed paid him a courtesy call at the Government House in Maiduguri.
He, however, announced the donation of N50 million to enable NAUB in its preparations towards the conduct of its first convocation slated to hold on 28th October, 2023.
He also directed Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR), Engr. Ibrahim Idris, to draw proposal for immediate approval to construct befitting staff quarters and students’ hostels for NAUB, so as to ease the problem of accommodation.
While commending the former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai (Rtd) and the federal government for establishing the university since 2018, Zulum pointed out that during his first tenure, precisely in the past four years, his administration, which was shrouded with competing demands, had supported various federal institutions, especially the construction and completion of staff quarters and students hostels at University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) among other various interventions.
His words: ”We are all living witnesses to atrocities posed by Boko Haram which, in the last five years, have hindered many of our tertiary institutions from conducting Convocation Ceremonies in the state.
“Now that peace has returned to our dear state, by the special grace of Allah (God), my government will support all tertiary institutions in conducting their convocation ceremonies, this is very important, as it is through Convocation, that the best performing students are officially identified and be rewarded by the government.
“I want to also use this opportunity to inform the management Team that the present administration is working out modalities to ensure that Best Performing students from Borno North, Central and Southern senatorial district are sponsored for their academic studies in NAUB by Borno State Government.” Zulum stated.
Earlier in his address, Prof Mohammed commended Governor Zulum for his foresight in repositioning the education sector in the state.
He said, since 2018 when the institution was established, it had been running very unique programmes by utilizing scientific and technological knowledge to develop credible and creative capacity for proffering innovative solutions to the problems of the Nigerian Army, the military as well as the nation at large.
This, according to the VC, had about five faculties with 32 degree programmes which were fully accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in November, 2022.
He appreciated the governor for approving all requests from NAUB which were tabled before Zulum during the visit.
The VC promised to liaise with other tertiary institutions in research and development for the North-East and the country as a whole.
Source: Vanguard
