El-Rufai reopens tertiary institutions in Southern Kaduna

Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-rufai has ordered immediate reopening of the tertiary institutions closed down in Southern Kaduna since December.

The schools which were shut following the crises in the area are College of Education, Gidan Waya, the Kafanchan campus of the Kaduna State University (KASU), and school of Nursing and Midwifery, Kafanchan.

The governor gave the directive while meeting with some Southern Kaduna elders in his office yesterday, saying the government decided to reopen all tertiary institutions in southern Kaduna due to improvements in the security situation in the area.

The governor also explained that the state government would henceforth adopt a multi-campus structure for all its tertiary institutions to benefit every local government area in the state.

He said 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.

He said, “Memo presented to the State Executive Council indicates that 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.”

The governor thanked the delegation, which included Air Commodore Emmanuel Jekada (Rtd) and Bishop George Dodo, Catholic Bishop of Zaria, for helping to stabilize and restore peace in the affected local government areas.

Members of the delegation applauded the governor for reopening the schools and for adopting the multi-campus structure.

Bishop Dodo said that it is clear that the government has good intentions.

Air Commodore Jekada expressed appreciation to security agencies and the state government for working to restore order and make a return to normalcy possible.