Encounter with KUST Vice Chancellor

Encounter with KUST Vice Chancellor

By Ibrahim Musa

Sometimes what should ordinarily be a blessing may turn into misfortune. Though scientifically, such cases hardly obey the Gausian Curve of normal distribution. Kano University of Science and Technology could simply be described as a cat with nine lives. The idea of its creation was conceived since the golden days of Governor Audu Bako and later Kabiru Gaya toyed with the same concept but it could not see the light of the day until when Kwankwaso was elected Governor. If there is any romance between this university and the state government, it must have ended with the departure of its founder mentioned above.

When an acclaimed educationist entered the field and took over the mantle of leadership in Kano, everybody thought KUST would be a priority. Alas! I am sorry to disappoint you, the reverse is the case. I never believed so until last week when I attended the maiden convocation of the university; a little more than a decade after its establishment. At the occasion where all the dignitaries were seated including its new Chancellor, Alh Aliko Dangote, the Vice Chancellor passed a verdict of failure on the visitor; an acclaimed educationist Governor, Shekarau. In his speech he thanked only ETF, the organization he said built all the new structures in the institution and sponsored many of its lecturers for postgraduate education in the last eight years. And he added by thanking his students ‘who endured the hardship of crowded hostels and classrooms’ in addition to official frustration and negligence from the part of its owner (state government).

I was dumb-founded to realize that what he was saying is actually the truth and he was bold enough to enumerate all the problems despite the fact that it may cause him his job. Why would a leader kill the dream of his people just because he missed out in the game to secure a cheap credit of being credited with the title of the founder? Do we think this kind of mindset will bring the kind of positive change we desire for our children and great grand ones? I made it a hobby to peruse the state budget summary every year and I noticed that habitually KUST is the least funded institution of high learning. Even the budget of Saadatu Rimi College of Education is almost one and a half times higher than the KUST’s. What a recurrent decimal!

I have always argued that what God has destined, no one can stop it. This university has obviously come to stay. So whoever succeeds this governor should ignore the whispers of parochial sycophants and prioritize this project called KUST. The idea being peddled around of naming the institution after Alhassan Dantata should just be shelved, since it does not add any value to it except creating confusion.

I congratulate all the graduates and their teachers for surmounting these difficult hurdles. It is truly a titanic one to face it all alone and in silence. Keep the spirit alive for our children’s sake!

NB: I wrote this piece on 23/03/2011 and published it on a listserv: raayiriga@yahoogroups.com

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