The new Commissioner for Higher Education, Gombe state, Meshack Lauco, says the vision of the ministry under his leadership is to make the state-owned tertiary institutions attain world-class ranking.
Mr Lauco, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Gombe, said the quality of education in all state-owned tertiary institutions would not be compromised.
He stated that the era of just giving certificate would be jettisoned, adding that the laws establishing such institutions would be reviewed to put them in their right perspectives in line with their mandate.
According to him, there will be thorough evaluation of the accreditation status of all the programmes and courses in all the tertiary institutions.
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He explained that the strategic plans for the development of the institutions, in line with their timelines, would be supervised to ensure no deviation from their developmental plans across the state.
“We want a situation whereby we will have our institutions like Gombe State University, they will become world class. Their rankings would be improved in both national and international ranking.
“We will look at the impact factors like publication, Google citation of articles from these institutions and the visibility of the institutions on the internet; we will ensure all these are improved.
“We want a situation whereby people will want their children to come to our institutions to have quality education in Gombe State; that is our mission,’’ he said.
On the non-payment of two month salaries of staff of some of the state-owned institutions, the commissioner said: “The ministry is aware based on the brief I got from the Permanent Secretary.
“We are already putting heads together and making concerted efforts to make sure they are paid their salaries. I assure you that Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State is committed to quality education.
“You cannot talk of quality education when officers are grumbling. Now that the commissioners are in place, it is our responsibility to inform the governor and we have no doubt it will be resolved.
“I call on all those who have not received their salaries for the past two months, now, to bear with us. We will definitely pay their salaries soonest.’’
The commissioner appealed to staff of all tertiary institutions in the state to give the state government the needed commitment, loyalty and sacrifice that would improve the quality of tertiary education in the state.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that staff of three tertiary institutions, owned by the state government has not received their September and October salaries.
The institutions are: State Polytechnic, Bajoga; College of Health, Science and Technology, Kaltungo and College of Legal and Islamic Studies, Nafada.
NAN
