Mr. Thomas Gangumi is the registrar of
the Federal University Wukari, Taraba
State. In this interview with TAIWO
OGUNMOLA-OMILANI, he speaks on the
plan of the institution to liaise with some
NGOs and individuals for support to
establish a flour industry. The excerpts.
What is the university doing to tap the
abundant resources in the state to
improve its internally generated revenue?
We are lucky to have the university sited
in Taraba State. This university has a lot
of resources to boost its IGR. That is why
the Consult Unit was set up by the
university. The unit has identified some
areas and resources that can be tapped.
Apart from the academic programmes
such as the pre-degree/pre-JAMB that
add capital value to the university,
abundant natural resources are also
available to us. We are trying to liaise
with some NGOs and individuals for
support so that we can establish a flour
industry. We also see need to encourage
farmers to go into more cassava farming
and production so that they can feed our
Consult Unit where it can be milled,
packaged and sold within and outside the
country. These can immensely improve
our IGR. We also want to reposition our
existing bakery. With these and many
more, we won’t have to rely on the
Federal Government at all times. In this
way, I think we are on the right track.
Is the University thinking of partnering
Taraba State government on some of
these plans?
The state government is our host state,
so they will have interest in everything
that happens here in Federal University
Wukari. We try to involve them in order to
make the atmosphere conducive for us to
operate. We have, indeed, been receiving
maximum cooperation from the state
government. The vice chancellor has
indicated interest to partner the state
government in tackling environmental
degradation following the massive
plundering of the state forest reserves.
What are you doing about your staff
welfare?
In any organization, human resources are
valuable, so I have to ensure that the
working environment is conducive for the
staff in order to enable them perform
maximally. When we came here, there
were very few offices and efforts were put
in place to provide more offices. We are
not there yet, but at least we have a good
starting. The former registrar had to sit in
an office with all his staff. But today I am
here in the registry where we have more
than four offices under the department.
We are trying our best to provide
adequate furniture. Allowances that are
due to some officers are being paid and
we hope to improve on that.
Many staff who are due for confirmation
have been confirmed. We plan to ensure
that those who merit certain privileges
are given them accordingly. At the end of
each year, we organize and give awards
to deserving staff in appreciation of their
efforts; and we will continue to do that.
With the building projects on-going, we
are sure that we will soon have enough
office and residential accommodation.
These are some of the things put in place
to ensure staff welfare.
Are there plans for in-service training for
staffs?
Of course, we have non-academic staff
that are on studies as well. In the
university setting, teaching staff are given
more privilege to study. They have 70
percent while the non-teaching staff have
30 percent. That is why you may not
notice a lot of non-teaching staff
undergoing further studies. However, it is
their privilege as far as it is within the
lawful provision of a university system.
How are you coping with the high
expectations of the host community?
In every society, there are expectations
and you cannot meet all of them.
Everybody wants Federal University
Wukari to employ him/her, and no matter
how much we try in that direction, we
cannot employ all. Again, we have a
budgetary provision that guides our
spending which we cannot go outside it.
That is why we have been pleading for
understanding from people that look unto
us for one benefit or the other. We do
everything within our powers to make