From Gyang Bere, Jos
The vice-chancellor, University of Jos (UNIJOS), Plateau State, Prof. Ishaya Tanko, has applauded the National Universities Commission for reintroducing ranking system in universities, saying, “Effort is in top gear for UNIJOS to come tops in the next ranking.”
He spoke also on issues of security on campus, policies to stem sexual harassment and other issues.
What kind of university did you inherit?
I am actually truly honoured to be the 10th substantive VC of UNIJOS. This is to show you that there have been many VCs before me. They have all put in the enabling infrastructure. They tried their best to make sure that the institution I have today is a global university.
The university I am privileged to lead is an institution that everybody should reckon with, a university that we are proud of; a great university, that is why we call ourselves Great Josites. We have distinguished personalities all over the world who graduated from this great university. I am privileged and honoured to be the VC of UNIJOS.
What new things are you bringing on board?
We will continue to develop. I believe that what has been done is a foundation for me to continue to build on. I will build on what my predecessors have actually worked on. I will continue to enhance, build and maintain what they have done for sustainable growth and development.
UNIJOS has not done well in rankings; what will you do differently?
I want to commend the National Universities Commission (NUC) for after 20 years for bringing assessment exercise to Nigeria’s universities. Ranking is something that we have to live with. It is the first edition after 2001. This is actually a very old and excellent step by NUC.
We have rankings in the world. We have rankings in various states. It is a fantastic thing that NUC has done. For us in UNIJOS, the current position that we have found ourselves, we are not protesting to say it is not an accurate ranking. It is an accurate ranking that is the point that they have gotten the information that they want to get.
I believe that our colleagues and I will do better than what we did and that is not our current position. By the grace of God, the next round of ranking, we will demonstrate to the world and Nigeria that this year’s ranking was not really what UNIJOS really stands for.
But at the moment, we have to take that ranking because it is a credible process. I was privileged to see the process that NUC followed before releasing the ranking. We will work very hard and we will continue to work very hard.
I personally know why we came on this particular rank. So, we will work on those areas and, by the grace of God, in the next ranking, you will see us on top. By the grace of God, that is not our position and this is not the position that we will continue to maintain.
How do you intend to improve the internally generated revenue of UNIJOS?
We have a model that we currently operate, which people will argue for and against. The model is with respect to running a university system and that is what we have at the moment. The institution needs to be very creative and proactive with respect to creating more revenue to help complement government’s support for effective delivery of quality learning and research.
When I came on board, we decided to look at various perspectives and ways to enhance internally generated revenue. We have a consultancy unit. We just finished a meeting with the general manager of the unit. We are looking at various areas that we can explore and tap into to help the university generate revenue.
This kind of partnership is also a means to enhance the IGR of the institution. By the time our hotel is operational, what the hotel will be giving the school is not just the revenue that it will generate but also the kind of social enterprise that it will bring.
It is an opportunity to generate internal revenue. We will work on various aspects and ways to improve our IGR. There are ideas I have in mind and I have already started rolling them out.
Are you for or against the establishment of more universities?
Nigeria has evolved and Nigeria will continue to evolve. The universities we have and the students that want to go to university and other higher institutions are more than the capacity the universities can accommodate at the moment. I would say that the universities have not been adequate to take the JAMB numbers, and the statistics are always there.
I think it is more appropriate to open more avenues for people to learn. The more educated the citizens are, the more developed the country will be. I don’t actually have an issue in creating more universities.
The issue I have is people want to create a university and not fund it appropriately with respect to the kind of personnel, facilities required to ensure quality education that a school should be providing.
How do you intend to meet the demands of staff and students, in terms of welfare?
I don’t think UNIJOS has issues with respect to welfare of staff and students. I remember my immediate past VC was nicknamed ‘Maitamako (The Helper)’. That was because the staffers were really happy in terms of their welfare, and the students.
It was a leadership that I was privileged to be part of. We will continue to ensure that we carry that along and to improve on the welfare of staff and students. We have invited management to even look at issues of accommodation. It is not really the kind of accommodation that we want to provide for our students.
We want to provide them accommodation that will make them very comfortable to be proud students of the university, to give them the kind of comfort that is required for them to undertake excellent learning and research. We will continue to enhance on those aspects.
On security, how do you intend to protect the campus from criminals and bandits?
Nigeria is peculiar because of the kind of insecurity we are experiencing. We have put strategies in place even before now.
My immediate predecessor, who was acting before I came on board, Prof Greg Ejekeme, did a lot to ensure safe learning environment for students. We are building upon that.
We are eternally grateful to TETFund. I am just about 41 days in office, but we have already attracted huge intervention from TETFund. That will help us to continue to build security infrastructure for UNIJOS. We will continue to do the best we can.
We have put in appropriate security mechanism. It will not be good to discuss publicly. We are doing a lot to ensure that our students are safe and even those students who are not on campus.
We want to make sure they feel some sense of safety wherever they are. Where there is insecurity, academic and economic activities can hardly fly. We will ensure our students and staffs are protected.
How do you protect female students from sexual harassment?
We have seen quite a lot on social media with respect to harassment of female students and even staff. We have a robust policy with respect to gender and even sexual harassment. We have deliberate effort to ensure that we implement that policy.
Up to this moment, we don’t have any of that issue in UNIJOS. We have a clear open door policy. We have mechanism for female students to come to university management and various areas where there are such harassment including staff.
To the best of my knowledge, for three years that I have been Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, I have not had any case of such harassment. We will build upon that and we will make sure that our campuses are equitable.
We will make sure both female and male students are human beings that should be taken care of. Any issue that comes up, the policy and strategy put in place provide processes to deal with such a case.
There was crisis at the Postgraduate School before you came on board. How are you handling the matter?
There were issues with our colleagues, the academic staff. By the grace of God, the week I came on board, we held meetings. As we speak, that has been suspended. To the best of my knowledge, postgraduate students are supposed to have come back to continue with their activities without any delay or difficulty.