TELL Magazine

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has tasked the Governing Council of the Edo University Iyamho, to explore innovative approaches to generate revenue for the running of the university amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The governor said this during a courtesy visit to him at government house in Benin City, by members of the Governing Council of the university, led by its Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council, Prof. Thomas Audu.

Obaseki noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused major disruptions in all sectors of governance and economy, including the education sector, adding: “This university was conceived as a unique experiment in university education in Nigeria. It was supposed to be a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the government and the university. I urge the institution to attract a bit more industry and commerce in the Okpella-axis through investment. The university is situated in the mining belt of the state and it will be easy to raise funds”.

According to the governor, “We were hoping that most countries would have a major GDP growth this year but we have seen situations where these countries have seen almost double negative GDP. As a nation, we are forecasting that we would have a negative GDP growth of eight per cent, amounting to $20 billion dollars, which will throw the Nigerian economy into huge challenges.”

Obaseki asserted that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the institution was making giant strides in the area of technology as it had continued to make impact on the knowledge of its students notwithstanding the closure of schools across the nation using the E-learning platform.

“COVID-19 pandemic has been a major distraction to the world, Nigeria inclusive. It has been very disruptive. It has put a lot of stress and strains on our fragile system across the board as the educational system is not left out,” the governor posited.

Earlier, the Pro-Chancellor of the institution, congratulated the governor and his deputy for their nomination by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to fly the party’s flag at the September 19, 2020 governorship election in the state.

Audu disclosed that the Chancellor of the school, Dr. Aderemi Makanjuola donated a Molecular laboratory which has the capacity to test 300 COVID-19 samples in a day. He said despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the institution was still impacting on the knowledge of students through E-learning, via CANVAS Learning Management System (LMS).

He said in the area of infrastructure development, the school, in partnership with other private bodies, approved a block of classrooms for the Faculty of Engineering, building of 150 rooms hostel accommodation, while the 80-room hostel for Medical students had been completed and already in use.