By Usman Muhammad (Ameer)

Nasarawa State University, Keffi, said plans are in the pipeline towards the establishment of College of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering.

Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Suleiman Bala Mohammed, disclosed this recently in Keffi, when the State House of Assembly Committee on Education visited the University on oversight function.

Professor Mohammed said that the University is planning to recruit capable hands in the areas of ICT, Medicine and Engineering; adding that the University had achieved a lot in the areas of infrastructure and manpower development.

He expressed appreciation over the consistent efforts of the committee towards ensuring the development of this institution and the state education sector.

“With your support, the support from the state government and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), some outstanding projects have been completed. These include Information Communication Technology (ICT) block, new Faculty of Environmental Sciences, the University Digital Library and the Printing Press”, he said.

The Vice Chancellor, however, identified funding as the major challenge affecting the university.

In the same vein, the University has pegged the JAMB cut-off Mark for admission of students for 2020/2021 academic session at 160 points.

This, it said, is to enable the University accommodate more indigenous students yarning for University Education,  Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Education, Mr Daniel Ogazi, said that the committee was out to assess the 2020 budget performance of the institution.

“We are also here to look at the areas you have done well and to know the areas of your challenges with the view of addressing them,” Ogazi said.

He lauded the Vice Chancellor and the management for their efforts so far at improving the standard of education in the University and urged them to sustain the tempo.

The Committee’s Chairman assured the University’s Management of adequate support to make it a world class institution.

“We will talk to the government to give the institution the much needed support and assistance it deserves.

“The University is a major industry that we have in Nasarawa State, we will give the institution our maximum support to make it great,” he said.

Alhaji Bala Ahmed, Registrar of the institution said that the management was determined to make the institution one of the best Universities in the country.

The Registrar thanked the committee for giving adequate attention to the institution and called for its sustenance.

The Committee inspected some completed projects including ICT complex, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and the University’s Digital Library.