Severe stress claims 20 UNIJOS lecturers, says VC

Twenty lecturers with the University of Jos (UNIJOS) have died due to what the institution’s management described as ‘severe stress’ borne out of acute shortage of manpower.

Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Tanko Ishaya, lamented the lack of budgetary allocation for recruitment of needed personnel.

Ishaya spoke while briefing journalists in Jos on the activities marking his two years in office on Thursday, December 7, 2023.

He said: “For well over five years now, we have not been able to carry out recruitment exercises to fill vacant positions. We have lost many of our members of staff through retirements, Japa syndrome and deaths. Some of these positions require that we recruit to avoid any gaps.”

The vice chancellor stated that the absence of a Governing Council for the university is affecting its smooth running.

According to him, the university budgets N13 million monthly, but spends close to N100 million with electricity gulping close to N30 million in a month.

The Vice Chancellor has commended President Bola Tinubu for reversing the policy mandating tertiary institutions to remit 40 per cent of their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the Federal Government.

Ishaya, who said the reversal of the policy was timely, maintained that it would enable tertiary institutions have funds to cater for their immediate needs.

The vice chancellor, however, advised the federal government to grant full autonomy to public universities, insisting that autonomy of universities is not just about finances but their general administration.

“The autonomy of universities is not just about finances, but majorly about governance of the universities; autonomy is opposed to centralisation of the control of universities.

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“It confers on each university the right to select or admit its own students, decide what to teach and determine areas of research.

“So, we call on the federal government to grant universities autonomy to enable them function optimally,” he said

The vice chancellor, who reeled out some of the modest achievements in the university under his stewardship, maintained that his administration had completed over 30 inherited projects in the institutions.

Ishaya, who thanked staff and students of the institution for the support so far, promised to initiate and complete new projects and attract more research grants to the university before the expiration of his tenure.

He also thanked the management of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) for supporting the university in the areas of research, infrastructure and manpower development.

The Star