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From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The management of Rev Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi (MOAUM), former Benue State University (BSU), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a private developer to construct 1000 units of students hostels to address the shortage of accommodation for students.
This is just as the university has admitted 10,000 students out of over 26,000 candidates that applied for admission for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Simon Ubwa disclosed this yesterday while speaking with members of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Benue State.
Ubwa, who highlighted some of the challenges confronting the institution, ranging from poor electricity and inadequate water supply to accomodation, said he had also recorded some tremendous achievements in the last few months.
He said he has been able to restore light and water supply to the hostels, staff quarters and the school clinic.
The VC said: “No university can address the issue of accommodation completely. But for us, we are doing our best. Just recently, We have signed an MOU with a private developer to build over 1000 unit hostels, as well as the TETFUND to build hostels in the institution. We hope that by next year, the issue of accommodation would be solved substantially.
“When I resumed office, water was an issue on campus. I saw the way students, especially the female students, went about suffering in search of water and I didn’t like it. I said water must be pumped.
“There was no water in the staff quarters also, so I called engineers from the Water Board to get it fixed. We replaced the broken pipes.
“Our cables used to be vandalised, the meter in the library was not working. We have nine generators in the campus that were down, all of these have been repaired. JEDC substation was faulty, we ensure that students welfare is paramount. Staff at the clinic were using phone lights to fix drips even when there was a generator. We have fixed all the nine generators and I supervise the workers down to the cleaners myself to ensure things are done rightly.”
Ubwa, who decried the ongoing strike embarked upon by the Non Academic Staff Union of the University (NASU) said though he was not happy about the strike, it was not affecting academic activities in the institution as lectures were ongoing.
He, therefore, stated that the government was already looking into the matter and had pleaded with the union to sheath their sword and return to work.
According to him, a tripartite meeting was held between the government’s representatives, the university management and the union during which an MOU was signed. He added that “the 35 percent minimum wage implementation started last year. We have met the demand leaving 25 percent for wage allowance, and the 35 percent wage award is dependent on the level and step of individual staff.
“In 2021, some of them were qualified to be promoted and in 2024 some of them got double promotions and we forwarded all the recommendations to the government in 2025, but they are yet to be implemented, which had triggered the ongoing strike.
“It may interest you to know that the governor is well disposed to ensure that the welfare of staff is well taken care of. When the matter got to the governor, he directed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), the Head of Service (HOS), and the Accountant General (AG), who met with the staff and made all the necessary corrections and an MoU was signed between the government and the union. It was sent to the government but not implemented.
“In addition to that, the chairman in council pleaded with the union leadership to give the government and the institution till the end of September for the issue in contention to be resolved. We are not happy that some staff of the institution are on strike but we are considering their issues,” he said.
