From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
The government of Gombe state has celebrated the establishment of the first private university in the state and commended the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for issuing a provisional license for the establishment of Pen Resource University (PRU) in Gombe.
The commendation was contained in a statement that was issued by Ismaila Uba Misilli, senior media aide to the Governor of Gombe state, Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya. According to him, while expressing delight over the development, the Governor said the Muhammadu Buhari-led FEC deserves commendation for granting the approval.
Misilli said that Governor Yahaya noted that the establishment of PRU would go a long way in improving access to quality education for students in the state.
He said, “I’m highly delighted about this development. The establishment of the university will no doubt provide opportunities to teeming young lads, improve access to quality tertiary education and enhance enrollment of our students into institutions of higher learning”.
While congratulating the founder of the university, Dr Sani Jauro and the management team for the feat attain, the Governor assured of the commitment of his administration to support the smooth take-off of the institution.
He also pledged to maintain close synergy with the institution for the benefit of the people of the state. “He noted that the institution would no doubt contribute to human capital development of not only Gombe state, but the nation in general,” Misilli stated.
On his part, the founder of the PRU Dr Sani Jauro explained that the new university had the plans of changing the narratives in the area of learning while also countering insurgents such as Boko Haram as well as violent extremism and other societal challenges in the northeast.
According to Dr Sani who was a one-time Private Principal Secretary (PPS) to former governor Dankwambo in Gombe state, the issue of poverty, hunger and illiteracy as well as the decayed educational system in the northeast region informed the decision to establish the higher institution of learning in Gombe which is at the center of the subregion.
Dr Sani who is also the proprietor of the already established Pen Resource Academy (PRA) a primary and secondary school in Gombe stated this in an interview with Daily Sun in Gombe.
He said, “having been in the university system for some time now, we know what the problems are, so we are going to use PRU to ensure that our children are taught and trained in such a way that they would ensure a positive change in Gombe, the north-east and the country at large”.
“One should expect a vibrant university, a university that is going to set the pace for other universities. One of the problems identified as the cause of this Boko Haram is the dwindling standard of education coupled with poverty in the northeast, so if the educational standard is high certainly poverty will go down, PRU is surely going to change the educational narrative.
“It will not be a university that will engage in what is called pedagogies of the oppressed, where students will just sit down and their heads are stuffed with theories that they cannot even comprehend. We are going to run a university that will adopt a system of mentoring, we are also going to devise a lot of ways and means in which the students are going to own the knowledge,” Dr Sani said.