New Telegraph

Insecurity: UniAbuja seeks funding for perimeter fence

Following the increasing rate of insecurity, especially the kidnapping of students in schools, the University of Abuja has said it needs billions of Naira to complete the perimeter fencing of the institution. Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, who made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja while briefing newsmen to mark his second year in office, noted that presently, the institution has only gotten close to a billion naira as funds for the perimeter fencing.

While stressing that the Federal Government was committed to the safety of students and staff of the university and had released some money earlier, he said support was still coming in from various quarters and more was needed to ensure the fence was completed. He said: “We are constructing a fence on this campus not only to beautify the university but because of security. There are a lot of stories about kidnappers going to schools, we want to be well ahead of them. The Federal Government has given us money to do this and we want a situation whereby people are free to move.

“We have spent a lot of money on the security fencing but it is not enough yet because what we need is billions to do the fence but we have gotten close to a billion. We are really struggling to make sure all the fences are completed. “We continue to receive support for fencing, a few weeks ago we got about an additional support of N16 million because the Federal Government understands that this public university in the Federal Capital Territory must be secured and safe.

“Our students’ exposure to insecurity is very serious but we are not resting and we have strategies we have put in place to make sure our students are secured and there is no going back on the fencing but since we know we can’t get all the money we need instantly, we are working with security operatives regularly to keep them safe.”

Na’Allah, who noted that his greatest achievement in the last two years was the establishment of a vibrant portal for the university, added that in addition to the many infrastructural development, said a grant of N850 million has been received from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to construct more hostels for students. He explained that the TETFund funded hostels which were different from those to be undertaken by 10 private investors through the public private partnership arrangement of the Federal Government, were primarily to provide more campus accommodation for all students of the university, in line with a grooming policy to have all students live on campus.

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