Southern Kaduna Crisis: KDSG Re-opens Institutions
BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – Bowing to sustained pressure from Stakeholders, civil society organizations and subsisting courts’ rulings, Governor Nasiru el-Rufai has finally ordered the re-opening of all tertiary institutions closed down in Southern Kaduna over crises that engulfed the area last year.
According to Governor el-Rufai, the State government’s decision to re-open the schools was informed by noticeable improvement in the security situation.
He also disclosed that the government has decided to adopt a multi-campus structure for all its tertiary institutions, a decision that would assign at least one tertiary institution to every local government area.
A statement by the Governor’s spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, said Malam el-Rufai announced the decision when he received stakeholders from southern Kaduna.
The Governor praised the delegation that included Air Commodore E. K. Jekada and Bishop George Dodo, Catholic Bishop of Zaria, for helping to stabilize and restore peace in the affected local government areas, adding that he was delighted to personally thank the stakeholders for their role in promoting peace.
He acknowledged that several persons invested their time, connection and resources in the cause of peace, stressing, “I salute you for helping to uphold a common humanity, for keeping the voice of reason alive. It is voices like yours that are helping to anchor peace, upsetting the designs of people who think that a relentless focus on ethnicity and religion is the best way to advance their personal agenda. We are determined not to allow anyone to profit from strife. Thank you for your contributions to the steady advance of peace.”
Malam Nasir El-Rufai also announced that all tertiary institutions owned by the Kaduna State government would henceforth operate a multi-campus structure.
He stated that, “This new policy has been approved by the State Executive Council as a means to further expand access to higher education, make accreditation of courses more cost-effective and respond concretely to the desire by several communities to host tertiary institutions.”
The government explained that a multi-campus structure would make the state’s tertiary institutions more inclusive and expand the range of courses that students can study by making most courses available in all campuses.
“Memo presented to the State Executive Council indicates the government hopes that the various campuses spread across the state can over time evolve into fully-fledged universities in their own right. That is how the campuses of the University of California system and those of the University of London have evolved.
“This multi-campus policy will be implemented in a way that assigns at least one tertiary institution to each of the 23 local government areas. The laws of some of our institutions are already been amended to reflect this.
“The government reiterated a commitment to transform KASU into a world-class university in the long-term. Part of the transition to a multi-campus structure entails moving the main campus of KASU itself to be purpose-built main facility behind the NTI in Rigachikun.”
Members of the delegation commended Governor el-Rufai for re-opening schools and for adopting the multi-campus structure.
A delegation member, Air Commodore Jekada also praised the security agencies and the state government for working to restore order and ensure a return to normalcy.
He pledged that the stakeholders will continue to support and cooperate with the government for peace and development in Southern Kaduna.
