LOBBY BSU-ASUU FOR ACE-IMPACT ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES TO RUN SMOOTHLY....... CEFTER BOG

Board of Governors (BOG) of Centre For Food Technology and Research, Benue State University Makurdi rose from her three days RETREAT in Abuja with a charge on CEFTER Management Committee to woo BSU Leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and sister Unions within the University to secure their affection for the ACE Impact project so as to guarantee the uninterrupted flow of CEFTER academic programmes as expected by the World Bank.

Conveying the charge on behalf of the Chairman CEFTER Board of Governors at the end of the Retreat, the Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration, Benue State University Professor Michael Ode emphasized that the ACE Impact project holds alot of promise for the global visibility, infrastructural development and financial empowerment of Benue State University therefore, critical stakeholders like Academic Staff Union of Universities whose members are drivers of the academic & research hub of the Centre must be thoroughly sensitized, mobilized and carried along in a manner that guarantees the uninterrupted flow of ACE Impact Academic Programmes especially in the face of intermittent industrial actions which may strangulate life out of the ACE IMPACT project.

In her remarks, the BOG spokesperson for the Abuja Retreat, Professor Charity Ashimem Angya explained that so much would be at stake if CEFTER academic programmes were to be grounded because of an industrial action.

Responding on behalf of CEFTER Management Committee, the Centre Leader Dr Barnabas Ikyo appreciated BOG for the insight that informed the charge and promised to explore all acceptable lobbying openings on the ACE Impact project to win ASUU's affection and support for the research & academic component of the ACE Impact Project.

The CEFTER Centre Leader assured that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities currently enlisted as faculty members on the project stand to gain several packages like semester stipends, sponsorship to both national and international conferences and publication of researches in high impact journals of credible global standing among other benefits.

Dr. Ikyo however lamented that the accumulated badlog of convocations still pending for CEFTER graduates across the various PG Programmes of the University is creating a lot of tension in the Centre particularly among international students who are finding it difficult to understand why they have to wait indefinitely for convocation and their graduation certificates as well years after final exit from the said programmes.

Dr. Ikyo therefore pleaded with BOG to help fashion out feasible strategies to for the sake of CEFTER international students, support the Centre to convocate her graduates frequently and accelerate their certificate issuance protocols in the interest of the integrity of the ACE Impact project and the corporate image of Benue State University Makurdi.

The BOG Retreat also resolved to fashion out a convenient strategy for CEFTER Management Committee to adopt in their reportage of all Centre activities to BOG so as to easen BOG's oversight obligations on the Centre as prescribed in the statute accordingly.

BOG also congratulated CEFTER Leadership and the ACE Impact Project Team for the implementation protocols already activated for ACE Impact and sued for unity of purpose among relevant stakeholders. The Board also tasked BSU management on commitment to the Project mandate and charged key officers of the Project to deliver on expectations to enable the Centre earn 100 percent on ACE Impact as it was in ACE 1.

Highlights of the retreat were the intellectual engagements from leadership of Farmers Association of Nigeria, BSU Governing Council Representatives, Sister ACE IMPACT Centres and the National Universities Commission among other entertainment compements.