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By Isaac Kertyo, Makurdi
The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo (FUHSO), Professor Francis Uba, has disclosed that the institution’s core mandate is to produce qualitative healthcare professionals in line with the Federal Government’s policy.
Professor Uba, made this disclosure while briefing Journalists on the state of affairs of the university since he assumed office as the 3rd Vice Chancellor of the institution.
To this end, the Vice Chancellor has declared that FUHSO is open to Public Private Partnership (PPP) with individuals and corporate bodies in the area of accommodation among others for faster development of the institution.
“The university is eager to expand itself and meet the Federal Government’s mandate of producing qualitative professionals. We are fully prepared for a Public Private Partnership, (PPP). We’re open to partnership in this regard. We’re ready to partner with anybody in the area of accommodation,” among others.
He hinted that the institution under his watch, raised the students population from five hundred and sixty four students to two thousand three hundred students to escape the Federal Government’s sledgehammer.
“There was a policy which was introduced, and the policy was that, any university that had existed for up to five years and was not up to one thousand in terms of students population will hardly enjoy intervention from the Federal Government and we became worried.
“We went on students vigorous enrolment. The good news is that God being on our side, we were able to raise the students population from that five hundred and fifty four to two thousand three hundred, and that pushed us away from the sledgehammer and gave us these new programs that we have. We were able to expand the program from one to seven, that is in addition to six more programs,” he explained.
According to the Vice Chancellor, the institution has enjoyed one hundred percent accreditation, stressing that it will soon graduate the first set of medical students.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Benue State Council, Comr Bemdoo Ugber, assured that the union would continue to uphold professionalism, objectivity and development journalism.
He pointed out that a strong collaboration between the NUJ and the university would strengthen the institution’s public confidence in its mandate of producing highly skilled healthcare professionals.
