Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has granted a Conference intervention of the sum of N300m to Bauchi State University, Gadau (BASUG) to enable it to sponsor its staff to attend local and international conferences for academic records improvement.
The disclosure of the grant was made on Tuesday by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Auwalu Uba during the 2nd Annual Conference of the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA) North-East zone hosted by the university with the theme ‘Governance, Reconstruction, Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Development of the North-East.’
Bauchi State university VC assured that the university will utilize the funds to send its lecturers to attend conferences locally and internationally noting that already eight of them will soon participate in some international conferences.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, conferences do not only impart knowledge and ideas in participants but help in proffering solutions to societal problems and lauded the Nigerian Political Science Association for organizing the event saying it was timely and relevant.
In his address, the keynote speaker, Dr Abubakar Umar Kari who is also the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA) of University of Abuja lamented that about two million people affected by insurgents in the north-east have fled their homes adding that many of them still wallow in abject penury in internally displaced camps.
ALSO READ: Adeboye charges Dominion University students on diligence
He said that the ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the region could only succeed if governments go beyond propaganda, work in concert and play less politics with the whole thing.
Other recommendations made by the keynote speaker on the reconstruction of the North-East is drafting a marshall-like plan comprising a special fund to be accessed by the six states in the region within the next ten years at zero interest rate.
He suggested that ” The fund should be substantial and such that can make a real impact. Disbursement of the funds should be directly tied to specific projects and the whole thing should be worked out in such a way that political leaders in the states cannot tamper with the funds”.
Earlier, the National President of the Association, Professor Aloysius Okolie represented by Professor Jaja Nwanegbo explained that the conference was organized to provide a platform for scholars to interact and brainstorm on the problems of the north-east, the way forward with a view to attracting government’s attention.
and then