The outgoing Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Edo State, sa at the weekend said inadequate funding and lack of personnel are among other challenges public universities in Nigeria face.
Prof Salami applauded the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) policy of the Bola Tinubu administration adding that it is an avenue to bring those who don’t have the means to pursue their academic dreams on board.
She made the statement at the Thanksgiving and Book Lunch to mark the end of her 5- years tenure as the 10th Substantive Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Edo State
She said NELFUND is a work in progress that still needs to be better administered in other to meet the needs of more indigent students who may not be able to meet their education needs financially.
She said,” NELFUND is trying to bring equity, and equality to everybody and for me it is a process that is still in the works we have not gotten there, there are a lot of things we are trying to get in place, trying to bring those that are outside into the system. We are still working on how to get more students to key into the system. We need to step up our game to bring a lot of people into the system.”
In her efforts to make the University of Benin a better institution than she met it, she said.
“With all humility, I think I have done my best to rap it up. My prayer is that the University can grow higher than we met it.
The challenges are the same as with other tertiary institutions alike, funding, lack of manpower, and a constant strike by academic and non-academic staff.
In her memoir, which was titled, “So Much to Say”, she said managing students at the University of Benin was like managing a motor park with uncultured youths.
“Overseeing the University of Benin could well be compared with that of the motor park with some highly uncultured youths. The few who were from obviously decent well-mannered homes were often overwhelmed with the majority.
“For the slightest reason, even when such was unreasonable, they would head to the road to block the highway, preventing vehicular movements, and causing traffic gridlock running into miles.
“The irony is that passers-by and parents always saw it as of benefit to them. Little or no wonder that reports reaching management often were that the students were instigated and energized by staff and those who regarded themselves as stakeholders or concerned groups. The fact is that the latter groups are not students but disgruntled individuals who in most cases had business in the University ”
She said among the causes of protest by students during her tenure were inadequate electricity provided by BEDC while the school used generators to provide limited hours of light and as well as the death of a student who was admitted to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and some students who were murdered within and outside the campus by suspected cultists.
