TARABA STATE UNIVERSITY SHAKE-UP AS GOV. KEFAS SUSPENDS VC, DISSOLVES GOVERNING COUNCIL OVER 'PERSISTENT STRIKES'. (PHOTO).

 TARABA STATE VARSITY SHAKE-UP AS GOV. KEFAS SUSPENDS VC, DISSOLVES GOVERNING COUNCIL OVER 'PERSISTENT STRIKES'

Governor Agbu Kefas has suspended the Vice Chancellor of Taraba State University (TSU), Professor Sunday Bako, and dissolved the institution’s Governing Council with immediate effect.

The governor announced the decision during a meeting with members of the Governing Council, university management, and leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

According to him, the action followed persistent industrial strikes and what he described as administrative shortcomings that have disrupted academic activities at the university.

TSU, established in 2008 under the administration of the late Danbaba Suntai, currently has over 20,000 students. Governor Kefas said the repeated strikes had negatively impacted the academic calendar and the overall stability of the institution.

He noted that his administration had taken several steps to reposition the university. These include constituting a Governing Council, ensuring full payment of salaries and wages, implementing the new national minimum wage, accrediting and re-accrediting academic programmes, expanding infrastructure, and advancing the staff pension scheme.

Despite these interventions, the governor expressed concern that industrial actions persisted, which he attributed to lapses in management and governance.

“As Visitor to the University, with the mandate to reform and reposition it, I must take painful but necessary decisions to save the institution from decline,” he said.

Governor Kefas directed the immediate dissolution of the Governing Council and ordered the Vice Chancellor to proceed on indefinite suspension.

He also announced plans to appoint a Sole Administrator to oversee the affairs of the university pending further reforms. In addition, he disclosed that a Personnel Audit Committee would be set up to verify and document all staff of the institution.

The governor reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to reforming the education sector, noting that a state of emergency had already been declared to drive free and compulsory education, improve infrastructure, and address the issue of out-of-school children in the state.