By Musa Baba Adamu
The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, has assured the management of Bayero University Kano (BUK) of his continuous support towards addressing the challenges facing the institution and the education sector in the state and the country as a whole.
Senator Barau gave the assurance when the university’s management, led by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sagir Adamu Abbas, paid him a courtesy call at the National Assembly yesterday.
The vice chancellor had commended the Deputy President of the Senate for his support and solicited his assistance in addressing the challenges facing the institution.
Specifically, he appealed to Senator Barau to assist in providing accommodation to medical students in rural areas in line with the requirements of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
He said: “Bayero University is number two as far as medical education is concerned in the country. We are the second after Ibadan in terms of quality and quantity. In terms of quantity, Ibadan is given slots to admit 180 students. BUK is second with 150, and every other university has less.
“You know medical students are not supposed to reside within the city; they are supposed to be in the rural areas to get medical experience of the rural community before they graduate. Currently, or about five years ago, they were in Panshekara, and now, when accreditation came from NUC, they classified Panshekara as an urban area.
“A site has been provided for this to be constructed, but we don’t know how to do it because, without the medical residence for the students, it is going to affect our education.’
Responding, Senator Barau pledged to continue to support the university, describing education as the bedrock of the development of every society.
He said the parliament would continue to work with the executive to address the challenges facing the education sector in the country.
He said: ” People are spending money on medical tourism every year. If you quantify the amount of money they are spending is very high. You are doing well in terms of training our young people in the medical profession and others. This will help us to address medical tourism. We will support you in this regard and more.
“Human capital is number one; there is nothing more than human capital in this contemporary world. If you don’t get it right, then forget it. Once you get it, you are good to go. So, we are with you one hundred per cent. We will look at your request and address it, Insha Allah.”
Commending the vice chancellor for the transformation ongoing at the university, Senator Barau said, “Anybody who knows what Bayero University is doing for Kano must be proud of you. This is a testimony and demonstration of your excellent leadership as vice chancellor and indeed your management team.’’
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