On the proposed Confluence University of Science and Technology in Kogi Sate, I itemised two major areas in the first part of this article which critics assumed will mitigate its establishment and eventual take-off.
In that same Part 1, I addressed how the issue of timing will not mitigate its establishment and in this second part, I shall address the other factor raised by the dissenting voice, which is the issue of funding.
No doubt, cross section of the people in the State have expressed reservation over the proposed University which they said will not see the light of the day in view of the fact that the fund to execute the project is not there as building University is a capital-intensive project.
To start with, can my reader reminds me of any particular period in the history of the State that past administrations never experienced funding challenges on the execution of projects? Can my reader equally reminds me of any particular time where past administration had surplus fund at their disposal to execute capital projects in the State?
In short, we never had such time; I could recall right from late Prince Abubakar Audu’s administration to Ibrahim Abubakar, Idris Wada, and now Yahaya Bello, one peculiar problem confronting the State is the issue of funding.
Undisputed, late Prince Abubakar Audu could be termed as one celebrated past Governor in the history of the State. I am saying this as it was the late Prince Abubakar Audu that built Kogi Polytechnic, Lokoja and Kogi State University in Anyigba and many others. To this effect, I wish to draw the attention of my readers to what happened and how he was able to achieve these feats.
In the first coming of Prince Abubakar Audu’s administration, fund was a great challenge. He could not pay salaries, as workers were owed backlog of salaries. The situation then was not in any way different to the present administration led by Yahaya Bello. When Prince Abubakar Audu muted the idea of establishing Kogi State University, there was outcry everywhere.
The public bemoaned Prince Abubakar Audu for being unreasonable and insensitive to the plight of the suffering workers in the State, as they were owed months of unpaid salaries. Unperturbed Governor Audu did not rescind his decision in his quest to get his vision materialized.
Let me bring to the knowledge of my reader that late Governor Audu did not build University from federal monthly allocation savings rather it was through foreign loan and percentage deduction from workers’ salaries. It is instructive to note that Prince Abubakar Audu did not have mercy for workers at all, as he made them to forfeit 10% of their basic salaries, which comes as developmental contribution fund towards the establishment of the new University then.
This percentage salary deduction by Kogi State government then span for months. More also, the local government in the State were not spared too as certain percentage was deducted from the bulk of their federal allocation fund to raise fund for the establishment of Kogi State University. This was how Governor Audu sources fund towards the establishment of the Kogi State University, Ayigba then. So, funding has been the challenge of every past administration in the State and not a new thing.
My take is that, where funding problem crops up in the establishment of Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, I task the present administration to adopt late Prince Abubakar Audu’s fund sourcing and raising model.
Some people have equally averred that instead of establishing a new University, the proper thing is to decentralise the existing one so that each senatorial zone in Kogi State would have one of its campuses. Good as the suggestion might sound; I have a pertinent question to ask those who believe in this notion. Can we decentralise the existing University without building new structures for the new campuses? More also, where is the funding to do this if we have to go by the earlier reservation of the critics who decried lack of fund to establish a new University? Can the State government decentralize the existing University without structure on ground?
Now, if the answers to the above question is not to the contrary, I must say, the same fund Kogi State government will use to build these new campuses can as well be used to build new university from scratch. So, their stance on lack of fund to establish the new university does not hold water.
Another point of interest on the issue of decentralization, should Governor Bello heed to that call, it would be termed political. The same State government that took decision for decentralization can as well in future administration revert it.
Let me give my readers a clue, Specialist Hospital Obangede under the purview of State government was built by late Adamu Atta while in Kwara State. What happen when late Prince Abubakar Audu came into power in his first coming? He downgraded the hospital to mere general hospital. The late Governor was not budged by the protest over his decision and from what I learnt then, he was reported to have said the hospital belongs to the State government and that same State government can make any changes to it at any time.
Then, how are we sure an Igala Governor in future administration who is not favourably disposed to decentralization will not do the same thing just like how late Prince Abubakar Audu treated the people of Kogi central on the issue of Specialist Hospital Obangede.
I am not a prophet of doom, should Governor Bello heed to that call, and an ethnic bigot Governor comes into power, he will cancel it. He may not stop at this, to punish the people of Kogi central; he will as well convert the newly built University campuses by Governor Bello to mere secondary schools. Should this happen, whom shall we blame then? Is it Governor Bello or the critics who are presently suggesting for University campuses in view of their claimed lean federal monthly allocation fund?
To rest my pen, to avoid that costly mistake, Governor Bello should better go ahead to build his own administration’s University. It will be on record that his administration built University whether he completed before leaving office or not is immaterial after all.
Former Speaker of the State Assembly, Clarence Olafemi when he superintended the State on the capacity of Acting Governor, within three months, he built College of Education Technical and the school still exists till date. Can we say the College of Education, Technical in Kabba was fully completed within three months? Is the successive administration not giving the college of education the needed attention till date? The answer is left for you, the reader.
– Shaibu Stephen Ojate, a Journalist and Public Affairs Commentator, writes from Abuja.
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