Bingham University

The Bingham University, Karu, in Nasarawa State, on Thursday matriculated 1,014 students admitted into its five faculties for the 2017/2018 session.

In a speech at the ceremony, its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Qurix, said that the institution was recording rapid progress in spite of challenges in the areas of infrastructure, funding and governance.

He said that management was exploring funding alternatives to meet growing demands of the institution that was attracting more interest from people seeking university education across the entire world.

Qurix expressed happiness that major challenges that necessitated the setting up of a visiting panel were being tackled, saying that salaries were becoming more regular while the dearth of infrastructure was being addressed.

He said that the school now had eight faculties following the accreditation of the law, pharmacy and nursing faculties by the National University Commission (NUC).

The Vice Chancellor said that the school had massive potential that must be explored toward making it a centre of excellence, urging everyone to contribute his or her quota toward meeting that goal.

“Our goal is to graduate students with high quality and capable of being self-dependent. We want graduates that will not wait for jobs. We want those that will create jobs and propel our society to greatness.

“We want an education that allows students to be innovative and think deeply. That is what Nigeria wants now,” he said.

Qurix said that the school had an excellent Centre for Tropical Diseases, noting that it was the first of its kind in Nigeria.

The Vice Chancellor reminded the students that Bingham University was a faith-based institution and would, therefore, not tolerate vices like cultism, drug use and drug abuse, smoking, fighting or stealing.

He urged staff and students to support management’s efforts to make the school a model for others, and particularly thanked the staff for their patience and understanding over the years.

In his speech, the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rashid, lauded the institution’s steady growth and its efforts to overcome teething problems.

“Your progress is indeed laudable. You have risen from 126 students in 2006 to more than 4,000 in 2017. Your resilience is commendable especially in view of problems faced by most private universities in the country,” he said.

Rashid advised proprietors of private universities to abide by NUC guidelines, particularly in key areas like funding and good management.

He also challenged lecturers to be committed to their roles and avoid soliciting favours from students or their parents, warning that the NUC will not tolerate that.

“Lecturers must know that they are holding people’s children in trust. They must respect their oaths of offices and avoid situations that will being them into collision with the school management or the NUC,” he said.

He urged lecturers to pay more attention to research so as to come up with solutions to the myriad of problems facing the society, and assured the school of NUC’s support toward meeting its prime target of becoming one of the best learning centres in Nigeria and beyond.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 12-year-old university is owned by ECWA Church whose headquarters is in Jos, Plateau State.