Though the Federal Government established nine new universities as specialised institutions to serve as models, one year after, except probably for Oye-Ekiti, there are no infrastructure on the site of the institutions to show for money expended, Clement Idoko writes.
WHEN the Federal Government announced the creation of nine new universities, the focus, according to the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, was to make them specialised institutions and models in terms of infrastructure development.
The nine new universities established in 2010 across the six geo-political zones, especially in states that had no Federal university are in Otuoke, Bayelsa State; Dutsin-ma, Katsina State; Dutse, Jigawa State; Wukari, Taraba; Lokoja, Kogi State; Lafia, Nasarawa; Oye-Ekiti State; Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebony State and Kashere, Gombe State.
However, to the consternation of many Nigerians, no infrastructural developments have commenced on the site of about 90 per cent of the universities, in spite of the fact that funds have been approved for the projects by the Federal Government. President Goodluck Jonathan had approved N1.5 billion as take-off grant to each of the universities and an additional N2billion each for the nine universities for capital development, all to the tune of N31.5 billion last year.
Also, about eight of the universities, which have commenced academic programmes, admitted less than 3,000 students. Although, the National Universities Commission (NUC) approved an admission quota of 500 for each of the institution, Education Tribune gathered that the universities could not fill the quota largely because of lack of infrastructure to accommodate the students.
Investigation revealed that the ninth University, sited in President Jonathan’s home town, is yet to commence academic activities as a result of the recent flood disaster that ravaged some parts of the country, including the community. The Vice Chancellor of the university located in Otuoke, Professor Bolaji Aluko, who confirmed the development said work was yet to commence on the site of the university because of the terrain.
He also explained that he had asked the contractors for execution of projects in the school to hold on for the ongoing construction of access roads on the project site being handled by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The recent meeting held by the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, with the ministry officials, consultants, contractors, vice chancellors of the universities and representatives of the NUC and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was very revealing. The meeting showed that there was no proper coordination and monitoring of the execution of the projects in the institutions.
For instance, Mr Wike was aghast that majority of the contractors, months after signing contract agreements with the Permanent Secretary and the legal adviser of the Federal Ministry of Education have never been to the site of the universities to collect contract documents. In fact, both contractors and ministry officials traded blames on the delay in the execution of the projects, which involved the construction of lecture halls, libraries and administrative blocks.
The minister, in his opening remark said: “The vice chancellors maybe surprised at this meeting, but it is the truth; that is the way I operate. For one year now, Mr. President gave approval for projects in the nine new universities and we have been moving from one state to other, but the reports we are getting is not satisfactory at all.
“The usual thing, in my experience as I have found out, is that when these things happen, sometimes they blame the ministry, sometimes, the ministry will blame contractors, and sometimes contractors blame those who are the recipients, (that is the universities). When you meet with the vice chancellors, they will give another version because the ministry representatives are not there. Also, when you meet NUC, NUC will give you a different story and when you call the consultants, they too have their own stories. So, what I have decided to do is to bring all of you together because we want to know what the problems are.
“Why is it that for one year now that these projects have been approved and I do know that award letters have been given, and the report I’m getting is that 90 per cent of the site, nothing is happening. Some contractors have complained that up till now, they have not gotten the full detail of the drawings and all sorts of stories. So, I want to find out from the universities or from NUC, or that they have done everything and nobody is there to pay them and so the contractors are not willing to do their job or they have refused to cooperate with the universities to make sure that the job is being done. That is why we have come for this meeting.
“We are not interested in these stories, theories and so on. Something has to be done because there is no reason to justify that for one year, funds have been made available, approvals have been given, and up till now, we are still talking about processes to start up the job.
“Nigerians are eager that we have opened new universities and government is willing to make sure that not only do we open new universities, there must be projects; there should be facilities that people will say yes, not that they have just opened universities, but the government is serious about providing the necessary infrastructure.
“Everyday, we are telling Nigerians that government has opened new universities, government has promised this, and people are not seeing anything on ground,” he said.
Wike, vowed to apply sanction on any errant contractor or officials of the Federal Ministry of Education found to be involved in sabotaging the government efforts at realising the desired objective of opening up access to tertiary education in the country.
It was also discovered at the occasion that funds voted for the projects were actually released by the Tertiary Education Trust to the NUC on January 3, 2013 as directed by President Jonathan. Deputy Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr. Akinbode Agbaoye who represented the commission at the meeting confirmed the release of funds to the commission.
What was also revealed at the meeting was that some contractors were ignorant of the provisions in contract award letters requiring them to visit the respective universities to collect their contract documents, which included drawings for individual buildings and bills of quantities.
The procurement department of the Federal Ministry of Education in their briefing told the minister that they have had meeting with all the universities and Physical Planning Directors chaired by the Permanent Secretary by first week of December, 2012. According to them, copies of letters of awards, which were given to all contractors, were presented to them at the meeting. “We handed over all the bills of quantities and all the drawings of individual buildings to all the directors at a meeting here first week of December, 2012”.
Ministry officials, had also noted that contractors were sent to the universities, but said most of them have come back to report to the ministry that they were not given sites, drawings, and that in some cases the universities would tell the contractors that they were not ready for the implementation.
But the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Kashare, Gombe State, Prof. Mohammed El-Yakub, disputed this when he disclosed that he has been waiting for the contractors but none of them has been to the university.
The minister was angry that while the contractors were told in the letters of awards to go the universities and get the drawings and documents for the implementation of the projects but most of them have refused to do this. Paragraph four of the letter states: “You are to liaise with the Physical Planning Department of the university to collect contract documents within one week of signing of the agreement”.
Education Tribune, however, gathered from the ministry officials that the delay in the release of funds for the projects was caused by the initial opposition to the establishment of the universities by the National Assembly until August 2012 when the Senate passed the bills establishing them.
However, experts have begun to express concern that the nine new universities might go the way of the other public institutions in Nigeria, where lack of infrastructure have become the major challenge. They gave an example of the University of Abuja, established several years ago but which was temporarily located in a primary school in Gwagwalada, until the current Vice Chancellor, Professor James Adelabu moved most of the faculties to the permanent site along Airport road. This has also partly accounted for the current crisis bedeviling the university over accreditation.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Fairy tale about FG’s nine new varsities
Though the Federal Government established nine new universities as specialised institutions to serve as models, one year after, except probably for Oye-Ekiti, there are no infrastructure on the site of the institutions to show for money expended, Clement Idoko writes.
WHEN the Federal Government announced the creation of nine new universities, the focus, according to the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, was to make them specialised institutions and models in terms of infrastructure development.
The nine new universities established in 2010 across the six geo-political zones, especially in states that had no Federal university are in Otuoke, Bayelsa State; Dutsin-ma, Katsina State; Dutse, Jigawa State; Wukari, Taraba; Lokoja, Kogi State; Lafia, Nasarawa; Oye-Ekiti State; Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebony State and Kashere, Gombe State.
However, to the consternation of many Nigerians, no infrastructural developments have commenced on the site of about 90 per cent of the universities, in spite of the fact that funds have been approved for the projects by the Federal Government. President Goodluck Jonathan had approved N1.5 billion as take-off grant to each of the universities and an additional N2billion each for the nine universities for capital development, all to the tune of N31.5 billion last year.
Also, about eight of the universities, which have commenced academic programmes, admitted less than 3,000 students. Although, the National Universities Commission (NUC) approved an admission quota of 500 for each of the institution, Education Tribune gathered that the universities could not fill the quota largely because of lack of infrastructure to accommodate the students.
Investigation revealed that the ninth University, sited in President Jonathan’s home town, is yet to commence academic activities as a result of the recent flood disaster that ravaged some parts of the country, including the community. The Vice Chancellor of the university located in Otuoke, Professor Bolaji Aluko, who confirmed the development said work was yet to commence on the site of the university because of the terrain.
He also explained that he had asked the contractors for execution of projects in the school to hold on for the ongoing construction of access roads on the project site being handled by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The recent meeting held by the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, with the ministry officials, consultants, contractors, vice chancellors of the universities and representatives of the NUC and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was very revealing. The meeting showed that there was no proper coordination and monitoring of the execution of the projects in the institutions.
For instance, Mr Wike was aghast that majority of the contractors, months after signing contract agreements with the Permanent Secretary and the legal adviser of the Federal Ministry of Education have never been to the site of the universities to collect contract documents. In fact, both contractors and ministry officials traded blames on the delay in the execution of the projects, which involved the construction of lecture halls, libraries and administrative blocks.
The minister, in his opening remark said: “The vice chancellors maybe surprised at this meeting, but it is the truth; that is the way I operate. For one year now, Mr. President gave approval for projects in the nine new universities and we have been moving from one state to other, but the reports we are getting is not satisfactory at all.
“The usual thing, in my experience as I have found out, is that when these things happen, sometimes they blame the ministry, sometimes, the ministry will blame contractors, and sometimes contractors blame those who are the recipients, (that is the universities). When you meet with the vice chancellors, they will give another version because the ministry representatives are not there. Also, when you meet NUC, NUC will give you a different story and when you call the consultants, they too have their own stories. So, what I have decided to do is to bring all of you together because we want to know what the problems are.
“Why is it that for one year now that these projects have been approved and I do know that award letters have been given, and the report I’m getting is that 90 per cent of the site, nothing is happening. Some contractors have complained that up till now, they have not gotten the full detail of the drawings and all sorts of stories. So, I want to find out from the universities or from NUC, or that they have done everything and nobody is there to pay them and so the contractors are not willing to do their job or they have refused to cooperate with the universities to make sure that the job is being done. That is why we have come for this meeting.
“We are not interested in these stories, theories and so on. Something has to be done because there is no reason to justify that for one year, funds have been made available, approvals have been given, and up till now, we are still talking about processes to start up the job.
“Nigerians are eager that we have opened new universities and government is willing to make sure that not only do we open new universities, there must be projects; there should be facilities that people will say yes, not that they have just opened universities, but the government is serious about providing the necessary infrastructure.
“Everyday, we are telling Nigerians that government has opened new universities, government has promised this, and people are not seeing anything on ground,” he said.
Wike, vowed to apply sanction on any errant contractor or officials of the Federal Ministry of Education found to be involved in sabotaging the government efforts at realising the desired objective of opening up access to tertiary education in the country.
It was also discovered at the occasion that funds voted for the projects were actually released by the Tertiary Education Trust to the NUC on January 3, 2013 as directed by President Jonathan. Deputy Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr. Akinbode Agbaoye who represented the commission at the meeting confirmed the release of funds to the commission.
What was also revealed at the meeting was that some contractors were ignorant of the provisions in contract award letters requiring them to visit the respective universities to collect their contract documents, which included drawings for individual buildings and bills of quantities.
The procurement department of the Federal Ministry of Education in their briefing told the minister that they have had meeting with all the universities and Physical Planning Directors chaired by the Permanent Secretary by first week of December, 2012. According to them, copies of letters of awards, which were given to all contractors, were presented to them at the meeting. “We handed over all the bills of quantities and all the drawings of individual buildings to all the directors at a meeting here first week of December, 2012”.
Ministry officials, had also noted that contractors were sent to the universities, but said most of them have come back to report to the ministry that they were not given sites, drawings, and that in some cases the universities would tell the contractors that they were not ready for the implementation.
But the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Kashare, Gombe State, Prof. Mohammed El-Yakub, disputed this when he disclosed that he has been waiting for the contractors but none of them has been to the university.
The minister was angry that while the contractors were told in the letters of awards to go the universities and get the drawings and documents for the implementation of the projects but most of them have refused to do this. Paragraph four of the letter states: “You are to liaise with the Physical Planning Department of the university to collect contract documents within one week of signing of the agreement”.
Education Tribune, however, gathered from the ministry officials that the delay in the release of funds for the projects was caused by the initial opposition to the establishment of the universities by the National Assembly until August 2012 when the Senate passed the bills establishing them.
However, experts have begun to express concern that the nine new universities might go the way of the other public institutions in Nigeria, where lack of infrastructure have become the major challenge. They gave an example of the University of Abuja, established several years ago but which was temporarily located in a primary school in Gwagwalada, until the current Vice Chancellor, Professor James Adelabu moved most of the faculties to the permanent site along Airport road. This has also partly accounted for the current crisis bedeviling the university over accreditation.
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