DONATION TO THE NEW FEDERAL UNIVERSITY: SOME ARITHMETICS FOR ZAMFARA STATE GOVERNMENT. Reports from Zamfara Today had it that Zamfara State Government donated one Prado jeep, Toyota Camry and two furnished houses to the newly established Federal University in the state. The State has also earmarked TWO BILLION NAIRA for infrastructural development of the University. While all other donations are, in my view, appropriate; earmarking the sum stated above is an apparent misjudgment. If at all the Governor wanted helping the University, he should have done it in such a way that would assist the University and HIS PEOPLE by investing this huge sum in MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT. Arithmetic: One billion naira can sponsor 40 Zamfara indigenes to obtain PhDs in the UK at the average cost of N25 Million while another one billion can sponsor 125 indigenes of Zamfara State to obtain Master Degrees at the average cost of 8 Million in the UK! If this training is combined with the cheaper options in South Africa, Ghana, Uganda and Malaysia, the number will be lots much higher. The effect of this investment in a state that can hardly boast of 100 PhDs cannot be overemphasized. In making this decision, I wish the State also considered that this donation can make FG reluctant in funding the development of infrastructure for the Institution. Yeah, I wonder if the total intervention of Sokoto State Government to UDUS (in its more than 30 years hosting of the University) is in anyway near 2 billion. My opinion is that this is yet another BLUNDER and it simply takes understanding the framework of a Federal University to avoid it. Again, this calls for the need to doubt whether we have THE RIGHT PERSON IN THE RIGHT OFFICE in the governance of my state!
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 06:37:21 +0000