The Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Lokoja, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi, has said that students were reluctant to take up hostel accommodation because of the activities of bandits and kidnappers.
Chairman of the House Committee on University Education, Rep. Abubakar Fulata, said this in a statement he issued in Abuja on Wednesday.
The statement followed a visit by the committee to the university as part of its oversight functions.
Fulata quoted Akinwumi as saying the university said even the two hostels with a combined capacity of 500 occupants were empty.
The vice chancellor said the university management was also afraid of allocating the hostels because of the activities of kidnappers and bandits.
Supreme News recalls that some students of Kogi State University were kidnapped in May. Two of them were killed by their kidnappers.
He said the school was vulnerable to the activities of bandits and kidnappers because it lacked perimeter fencing.
”That is why we did not allow our students to move to the hostels”, he said.
He further quoted Akinwumi as praising the lawmakers visit to the school while seeking the assistance of the lawmakers to help address the challenges of a new school like Federal University Lokoja.
He said infrastructure challenges as well as insecurity had been the major obstacles to the smooth running of the university.
He said, apart from the infrastructural challenges, employing competent hands in various faculties and departments remained a challenge.
Fulata promised the support of the committee to ensure that the university had the necessary infrastructure to carry out research, teaching, and learning.
“These are very serious challenges given the university’s unique location. We are going to do our best to assist it in overcoming the infrastructure challenge.
“With regards to security,. We will take it up with relevant agencies and committees to really come to the aid of the university.
“The school management, teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as students are perpetually in fear of bandits and kidnappers. They hardly stay beyond 6 p.m. on campus’’, he said.
Fulata said while the lawmakers were not against the university authority revenue generation drives, it would be an infraction if the generated revenue was spent without being appropriated.