Nasarawa varsity requires N7bn to establish medical school – VC

The Nasarawa State University, Keffi requires N7 billion to establish a faculty of medicine, its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mohammed Mainoma, has said.

Mainoma made the disclosure on Friday in Keffi, when the Nasarawa House of Assembly Committee on Education, Science and Technology, paid an oversight visit to the school.

Mainoma, who was represented by the institution’s Registrar, Alhaji Bala Ahmed 11, said that the management had made efforts toward establishing the medical school, but had been frustrated by the reality on ground.

“A the moment, it is not possible to establish the school. We just do not have the resources to do that.

“Medical school has 21 departments; each department is expected to be headed by a professor. It means that from the onset, we have to engage 21 professors as heads of departments, apart from other teaching cadre.

“We also require a teaching hospital to start a medical school, which we do not have at the moment.

“We shall also require a massive faculty building to accommodate laboratories and other modern equipment,” he said.

Mainoma told the lawmakers that the university’s eight faculties was running 54 academic programmes out of which 53 programmes had been fully accredited.

He said that four more faculties were in the offing, adding that the National Universities Commission (NUC) had rated the institution as one of the best universities in the country.

The Vice Chancellor said that management would continue to initiate good policies that would improve standards in the institution.

Earlier, Mr. Muluku Agah (APC-Nassarawa Eggon East), the Vice chairman of the committee, had said that the visit was to assess the level of 2017 budget performance of the university so as to address any challenge.