University of Jos safe for students, staff - VC Prof. Tanko Ishaya assures

Prof. Tanko Ishaya, the Vice Chancellor (VC), of the University of Jos, has assured parents that the university was safe for students, members of staff and visitors.

Ishaya said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Wednesday in Jos, reiterating that the university management had put modalities on ground to ensure the safety of students and staff.

He said that the management had deployed both internal and external security for intelligence gathering, within and around the campus, to promote safety and security at all times.

“We have been doing our best in terms of providing internal security; we are using both the internal and external security in the areas of intelligence gathering that will require the actions of the conventional security agencies

“In the area of physical security, with the support of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), we are presently completing the perimeter fencing of the campus to avoid encroachment.

“Going forward, and in fact very soon, we will provide technology that will promote safety and security of our students, staff and properties of the university.

“So, there is no cause for alarm. Our students and staff are safe and the university is safe and ready for quality teaching and learning,” he said.

Ishaya added that the management of the university had also began engaging communities surrounding the university, to seek areas of possible security collaboration.

“As you know, part of the roles of a university is community engagement, and so we are looking at ways we can impact positively on the various host communities.

“Perhaps that is what the university needs to do, to enable the host communities take it as their own and ensure maximum security; and so we are talking with them on possible areas of support to achieve that,” the VC said.

Ishaya commended the Plateau Government and security agencies over the relative peace currently being enjoyed in the state, and the university in particular.

“The university is a microcosm of the state, and whatever happens in the state reflects on the university.

“So, I want to commend the state government for the mechanism put in place to ensure the state is peaceful.

“I call on parents not to think twice before sending their children to our university because it is very safe.” (NAN)