Gov Bello Gives Scholarship Award to KSU Medical Students
By Halimat Isah & Mohammed Yabagi
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has granted full scholarship awards to medical students of the state owned university whose studies were delayed for three years due to non-accreditation of their courses.
It was reported that the medical courses of the university were not accredited by the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council due to maladministration of the past governments in the state.
The benefitting students were transferred to other Nigerian universities for furtherance of their studies.
This comes on the heels of the two-year academic stagnation suffered by the students as a result of the non-accreditation of the medical programme of the institution which has affected their pre-clinical aspect of their academics.
Bello announced the scholarship Wednesday when some members of the institution’s management led the students on courtesy call on the Governor in Lokoja the state capital.
The Governor said his vision is to live a lasting legacy on the future generation in the state, hence his commitment towards ensuring that the lives of the students are not held to ransom due to the failure of governance.
The comment is a reference to the inability of the previous government to give the Kogi State University Teaching Hospital (KSUTH), the needed backing to get the facilities it needs to ensure it gets requisite accreditation by the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council, the regulatory body in charge of medical programmes in Nigerian universities.
Governor Bello, who told the students that his government was ready to make necessary sacrifice for the betterment of the next generation, stressed the need for them to reciprocate by being hardworking in the new institutions they are being transferred to.
The Governor, who told the students that his administration was committed to making necessary sacrifices in order to realise his vision of a better Kogi State, advised them to hold tenaciously to their dreams of becoming excellent Medical Doctors.
He said when he realised how intractable the problem was, he had to think outside the box to bring it to an end for the purpose of safeguarding the future of the seemingly helpless students.
Bello, while expressing appreciation to the staff and management of the university who made the transfer possible, used the occasion to announce the occasion to approve the promotion of the former Acting Provost, Prof Margaret Araoye to substantive.
The news gladdened the entire university community at the occasion who gave a rousing cheer.
He assured them that this would be the first and the last time the institution would transfer its students to other schools for their pre-clinical and clinical trials in continuation of their medical studies.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Mohammed Sani Abdulkadir intimated the Governor of the efforts he and other top management members had to put in to ensure success for the exchange programme.
He thanked the Governor for the logistical support rendered to them to ensure success of the efforts and solicited that the report gathered by the committee saddled with investigating the problems militating against the Teaching Hospitals be implemented to ensure that KSU qualifies for the next accreditation next year.
On her part, the provost, Prof Margaret Araoye had informed the Governor that they would prefer not to transfer their students, but that they would also not want their academic pursuits to be put on hold any further.
She therefore appealed to the government to give the teaching hospital the required support it needed to continue to train future Medical Doctors, saying it has all it takes to succeed in that venture.
The spokesman of the students, Comrade Olugbemiro Bolarinwa had appealed to the Governor to offset their academic bills, because some of them could not afford the fees in other schools.
He described the Governor as a passionate individual with good intentions for the state and promised that they would return to pay the state back when they complete their studies.
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