Taraba varsity operating below NUC standard: Visitation panel

The visitation panel for Taraba State University, Jalingo, stated that the university is operating below the standards set by the National Universities Commission (NUC). They recommended restructuring the procedure for appointing the university’s governing council to meet NUC standards.

Prof. Josiah Kente, chairman of the panel, disclosed this on Thursday while briefing journalists after presenting the report to Governor Agbu Kefas in Jalingo. He said the recommendation was based on the terms of reference given to the committee, considering the leadership quality of the university, including the governing council, the Vice-Chancellor, and other principal officers.

According to Kente, the panel discovered that the inappropriate composition and appointment of the governing council in the university have adversely affected the policies and direction of the institution.

“Based on the data and information provided by the university management, and considering the committee’s terms of reference on the leadership quality of the university, we recommend restructuring the governing council.

We found that the inappropriate composition and appointment of the governing council have adversely affected the policies and direction of the university. The chairman of the governing council should be someone with university administration experience, capable of advising the institution appropriately.

“The staffing system of the university does not adhere to the NUC guidelines. The NUC standard stipulates that the staff system of a university should be 70/30, with 70 percent academic staff and 30 percent non-academic staff. However, in Taraba State University, it is 70 percent non-academic and 30 percent academic staff, with 749 academic staff and 1,819 non-academic staff.

“We also advised the state government to constitute an investigative panel to probe the financial management of the university. We found that there are no proper financial records in the institution. The university management was unable to provide financial cash records, especially from 2012 to 2016 and 2010 to 2023.

“We have even recommended that some individuals return money because they violated all financial rules of spending in an institution and spent at will.

“The recruitment process in the university is also not conducted as it should be. The process must be transparent. The positions must be sent to the council for approval and advertised, but all these procedures were not followed during the exercise, and we discovered there are many improper practices going on in the university.

“We advise the state government, under Governor Agbu Kefas, to implement the report to bring Taraba State University up to NUC standards and make it a true university,” Prof. Kente disclosed.