ABU records N1.2b salary shortfall annually – VC

Prof. Ibrahim Garba, the Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, on Saturday said the university sources for N1.2 billion annually to augment its salary shortfall.
Garba made the disclosure at the 39th convocation ceremony of the unversity.
He said: “The university continues to augment salary shortfalls of about N100 million monthly from the Federal Government in order to settle its full staff wage bill.
“We are barely managing to survive from the Internally Generated Revenue derived mostly from fees and other charges.”
The vice chancellor added that the institution was also contending with poor budgetary releases, especially for overhead.
Garba announced that of the 11,731 who graduated during the 2015/2016 academic session, 299 had Ph.Ds, 2,697 Masters Degrees, 973 Post Graduate Degrees and 7,772 Bachelors Degrees.
Garba said 49 of the graduates had first class, 1,269 second class upper division, 4,250 second class lower division, 1,880 third class honours and 141 pass degrees and 183 unclassified degrees.
The vice chancellor used the occasion to praise a Nigerian, Jelani Aliyu from Sokoto State, who was present at the event.
Aliyu made name in automotive industry in the USA and internationally through his ingenious car designs.
Garba added: “Jelani Aliyu would have been an ABU architecture graduate but his choice and destiny took him to Birnin Kebbi Polytechnic and then to USA.
“ABU hereby extends its gratitude to Jelani for honouring our invitation to serve as the 39th Convocation Lecturer and looking forward to a close future relationship with him.”
Garba enumerated some of the achievements recorded by the university during the year to include splitting of the large Faculty of Science into two Faculties of Physical Sciences and Life Sciences.
He said the National Universities Council had approved new courses for ABU.
These include B. Eng. Automotive Engineering and B. Eng. Mechateonic Engineering, as well as B.Sc. Forestry and B.Sc. Fisheries.
Garba added that the Department of Vocational and Technical Education had been split into two to form the Department of Home Economics and Department of Vocational and Technical Education.