As a student of Professor Umar A. Pate at the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano, I must confess that his appointment is well deserved and could not have come at a better time than now.
Professor Umar Pate is not just a lecturer but a distinguished personality who is excellent in manners and mannerisms, human relations, conflict resolution and social development.
I must make it clear that we at Bayero University Kano are very happy that our own is about to join the Federal University Kashere as the third vice-chancellor and we are sure that he will make us proud by moving the university to greater heights.
I will like to remind the newly appointed vice-chancellor that every promotion comes with a lot of responsibilities. FUK is a new tertiary institution, inaugurated in 2011 and is faced with a lot of challenges.
One of the challenges is that about 90 per cent of the staff of the university both academic and non-academic have to shuttle from Gombe to Kashere daily which is a distance of 65km. This contributes a lot to making them less productive.
This development is not unconnected to the fact that the university has fewer than 50 staff quarters which is grossly inadequate. This means that the incoming vice-chancellor has the task of embarking on massive construction of staff quarters if he wants to see visible change.
Similarly, many lecturers have no offices. One of the lecturers told me that he used his car as his office.
There is also the problem of ill-equipped or furnished buildings which made them impossible to be put to use. This is in addition to inadequate lecture halls. Students even sit on the floor to receive lectures
Still on staff welfare, Professor Pate must also ensure mutual understanding between the management and other staff via public relations techniques and other workable methods.
On the side of students, some of their hostels have no electricity and there is also the problem of water shortage in the hostels, which forced many to rent rooms outside the campus at exorbitant rates.
It is obvious that the dream of staff and students of the university is to see that the incoming vice-chancellor ameliorates these challenges and moves the university to the promised land.
Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol, Bayero University, Kano
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