By Tser Vanger
I have jusjust been pondering over the wave of falsehood being peddled by those who feel alarmed that new conditional charges have been introduced for prospective fresh students of Benue State University, Makurdi. Although the Vice-chancellor of the university, whose lot it is to implement the new regime of the conditional charges, Prof. Msugh Moses Kembe, has met most of the relevant stakeholders to explain the charges approved by the state government, some of them, especially leaders of the university students union, seem bent on trying to “ttake panadol on another man’sman’s headache”, like they put it in our local lingo.Alingo.As one saddled with the responsibility of further christalizing the Vice-chancellor’s messages, I would like to, with all sense of modesty, espouse on this unnecessary controversy, using my personal experience: Three or four years back, in 2012 precisely, my daughter gained admission into JSS1, Federal Government College (FFGGC) Gboko. Being her first year of entry into the college, I had to spend, at least, #162000 before she was registered as a student of the college. After that seemingly high charge for a mere “form 1” student, I have been paying, sometimes, less than #20000 per term, except when she was to register for the JSS certificate examination and last October when she resumed in SSS Class 1. Like the VC has explained at different fora I had earlier referred to, people must not be stinking rich to afford some form of quality education; by realigning our priorities, we can meet certain desires, through God’sGod’s providence, if we factor Him into our plans.Splans.Some of those who have been criticising the new fees regime in BSU even, consciously or unconsciously, deploy very negative invectives to describe the institution they either graduated from or are currently its students. So what is wrong if new students are to pay some higher rates so that quality can be assured and the threat of denied accreditation for courses such as Law and Medicine averted? Were the Vice-chancellor not interested in seeing aspiring candidates acquire university education, would he have gone out of his way to plead with NUC and JAMB to increase the number of those admitted this session from 5520 to about 7000? And to imagine that over 15000 candidates sat for the PUTME in BSU for the session, 2015/22016.F22016.Finally, the latest is that one of the foremost universities in Nigeria, University of Lagos, Akoka, was shut down on Thursday. Reason? ThThe students staged demonstration over erratic power and water supply on campus. So by introducing utility charges and effecting a slight increase on some existing rates, management of BSU has rather been proactive trying to avert a potential similar scenerio. Above all, there is some wisdom in what a one time Military Governor of our dear Benue State, Group Cpt. (now Senator) Jonas David Jang once told us, Benue people: “You don’tdon’t advertise poverty”.