2nd December, 2021
By Jethro Ibileke
Authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), have converted 300 qualified non-academic staff to academic staff, in order to make up for the shortage of teaching staff in the institution.
The Vice Chancellor of the Institution, Prof Lilian Salami, disclosed this on Thursday in Benin, during an interaction with journalists.
She disclosed that part of the challenges confronting the institution is lack of manpower, as the federal government has not lifted the embargo on employment.
She said: “We have been able to train 300 qualified non teaching staff and convert them to teaching staff in order to make up for the shortfall.”
Commenting on the challenge of power supply to the institution, Prof. Salami said the University is working on its power plant in order to reduce the huge bill paid on electricity consumption in the institution.
“It cost us N60 million per month to run electricity on campus and that money is not coming from the federal government, but bulk of it from internally-generated revenue,” she disclosed.
The VC said the University’s Council reached a decision that late payment of school fee after the stipulated period of four weeks attracts N20,000, as a result of the development, coupled with the fact that students are owing the school huge amount in terms of payment of school fees, which she said was misconstrued as increment of school fees.
The Vice Chancellor said as part of its corporate social responsibility, the institution is subsidizing the education of indigent students who can’t afford to pay fees charged, after thorough investigation by the management.
Commenting on the institution’s lecturer that was accused of rape, Prof. Salam, said the lecturer has been placed on suspension pending the outcome of police investigation.
She assured that when the police conclude their investigation and the result is out, actions taken against the lecturer would be made public.