Kebbi varsity may collapse over poor funding, ASUU warns

The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities, Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, has raised the alarm that poor funding may lead to the collapse of the university.

The Chairman of the union, Dr Abubakar Umar, in a press conference in Birnin Kebbi on Friday, said the university was facing a myriad of problems, including infrastructure decay, poor accommodation for lecturers, inadequate students’ hostels and non-payments of earned academic allowances for 11 years.

He noted, “For over six years, lecturers of the university have not got promotion implementation not to speak of arrears and even when they get the promotion, sometimes, it takes almost a year before the implementation which was responsible for mass exit of over 20 vibrant and intelligent academic staff.”

He further explained that, “the size of the university workforce has increased but the structures are not only bad but insufficient to accommodate them.

“The same thing is happening to students who had to stay off campus in Jega or Birnin Kebbi, the state capital daily to attend lectures, I am afraid if the university remains underfunded with decaying infrastructure, it will collapse,” he warned”.

On healthcare, he said the university clinic had no doctor since it was established, adding that they had written on the issue to no avail.

He also said the security of the university was another source of worry, recalling that a lecturer was once kidnapped, while another was marked for killing, but escaped by the whisker.

“Therefore the university needs security to operate without any fear of attack by gunmen. I appeal to Kebbi State Government to meet our demands to avert the collapse of the university.

“We believe our comrade governor will address the issues raised to save the only state-owned university where children of the poor study.”

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Higher Education, Abubakar Tunga, denied the allegations through a text message.

He, however, directed journalists to visit the university, while declining comment on unpaid academic earned allowances and promotions implementations.