Edo 2024: Obhakhan Promises Increased Funding of AAU, Ekpoma

By Newscurve 

A former Commissioner for Education in Edo State and an aspirant for the 2024 governorship race on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Engr. Gideon Obhakhan has promised to increase the state government's funding of the state owned Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma if he's given the opportunity to govern Edo State in the 2024 governorship election.

              

              Engr. Gideon Obhakhan

Obhakhan who stated this while fielding questions from newsmen, noted that the intractable challenges confronting the Ambrose Alli University is inadequate funding, adding that the Edo State government led by Governor Godwin Obaseki reduced the government's monthly subvention to the University from N270m (Two hundred and seventy million Naira) when he was Commissioner for Education, to N41M (Forty-one million Naira), which he said is inadequate and responsible for the crisis in the University which according to him has become unabated. 

While deploring the astronomical school fees at Ambrose Alli University, Obhakhan promised to partner the private sector with a view to creating opportunities for the ivory tower to raise funds and condemned the reduction of internally generated revenue in the University to increase in school fees. 

"The fundamental issue that the school has today is the issue of funding. As at the time Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was leaving office as Governor of Edo State, he was giving a monthly subvention of over two hundred and seventy million naira to Ambrose Alli University; plus the internally generated revenue (IGR) in the institution, they were able to cope and manage the school perfectly. 

"But today, the current administration led by Governor Godwin Obaseki is giving the school approximately forty-one million naira monthly, which is grossly inadequate. 

"So, first, we'll need to resolve the issue of funding. Apart from the subvention that will be coming from the  state government, we are going to work creatively with the private sector, like public, private partnership to create avenues for the school to generate revenue so that they are self sustaining. The issue of revenue generation by Universities must not be increase in school fees. The school fees today I hear is ranging from N600,000 to almost a million naira for some departments. What that means is that you're pushing the poor out of schools. This is  not good for Edo State, because a state can only survive when you have people who are educated, people who understand what is going on in their environment, which comes through education. So, for us we're going to be creative about that, we're going to have public, private partnership, create opportunities for the University to generate revenue and it will become what is mutually beneficial to both the community and the state government."

On the issue of courses that have failed the National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation,  such as medicine,  Obhakhan assured that given the mandate to govern Edo State in 2024, he would restore those courses, adding; "The reason is simple, you can't produce quality graduates if you don't have those facilities or equipment or the trained personnel that will train others in the system.  

"What we'll do first is to ensure that we support the school to meet up with the standard that the NUC has set for each of the departments and this comes through funding; without money nothing can be done. A school that is struggling to pay salaries of lecturers that they have will not even be thinking of employing new lecturers or even buying equipment that will make those departments to be accredited. So, the first thing is to ensure that the school is adequately funded. The second thing is to ensure that there's internally generated revenue to support what is coming from the state government; then we take it one by one on a matter of priority, like all those departments that are critical to the development of the society will  be accredited. 

"We're going to partner with the institution, set up a qualified team to do a proper assessment of what is required and we have a short, medium and long term plan on how to get all those departments accredited within a short period of time."