Provost seeks govt help to renovate hostels
NAN-H-51
Hostels
By Awayi Kuje
Akwanga (Nasarawa State), Nov. 1, 2016 (NAN) The Provost, College of Education, Akwanga, Dr Rebecca Isaac, has appealed to the Nasarawa State Government to assist in rehabilitating its 30-year-old student hostels.
Isaac made the appeal when the State House of Assembly Committee on Education, Science and Technology paid an oversight visit to the institution on Tuesday in Akwanga.
“We wish to appeal to the state government to renovate some blocks of hostels that have been constructed 30 years ago.
“The present government has done lots in the college but we wish to appeal to the government to assist us renovate the hostel blocks, which are still strong but only needed renovation.
“Students are just managing those hostels; one need to go and see how they are managing.
“Renovating the hostels will go a long way to improve the welfare of both staff and students in the institution,’’ she said.
Isaac said that the college had financed some projects with its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in order to improve on the welfare of both lecturers and students.
She commended the committee for visiting the college to monitor the performance of 2016 budget in the school.
“The school, through its IGR, was able to execute positive projects.
“I also want to commend Gov. Tanko Al-Makura for constructing two standard blocks of hostels, containing 336 bed spaces for the college,’’ she said.
Besides, the provost appealed to the state government to address the issue of pension of the college’s staff who retired last year, in order to reduce their suffering.
“We have over 500 staff who retired and some of them, since September last year, but up till now, are still suffering because they have not been captured into the state’s pension scheme,’’ she added.
The provost also listed other challenges facing the college to include dearth of man power, promotion stagnation, non-implementation of annual increment for staff and lack of subvention to the school.
She, therefore, solicited for support from the lawmakers to address these challenges.
Earlier, Mr Daniel Ogazzi (APC-Kokona East), Chairman of the committee, said that the visit was not to witch hunt but assess the 2016 budget performance of the institution.
He added that the visit was also part of steps towards addressing any challenge confronting the institution.
He commended the provost for her transparency on application of the IGR to initiate programmes that will positively impact on the lives of lecturers and students.
Ogazzi urged the provost to sustain the good efforts.
The lawmaker pledged the committee’s readiness to address the challenges facing the college in order to improve the standard of education in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee also inspected the computerised Assisted Teaching Laboratory, lecture theatre halls, college maternity hall and college laboratory, among other projects. (NAN)
AKW/AIB/MST
Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde/Muhammad Suleiman Tola