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| Dr Abdulai Baba Salifu |
The immediate past Governing Council Chairman of the
University for Development Studies (UDS) Dr. Abdulai Baba Salifu, has urged
members of the Northern Region House of Chiefs to take a stand on government’s
decision to convert the Navrongo and Wa Campuses of the University into
autonomous universities.
The ruling
government led by President John Dramani Mahama has made it a policy to
establish a university for each of the ten administrative regions of Ghana. The
latest on the drawing board is the proposed establishment of the University of
Environment and Sustainable Development in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Plans
are far advanced for a ground breaking ceremony to pave way for construction to
begin.
Fortunately or
unfortunately, the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions of Ghana, each have
a campus of the UDS situated at Wa, Navrongo, Tamale and Nyankpala. This was probably
a deliberate decision by the government of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings who in
1992 established the UDS.
The UDS started
at Nyankpala in the Northern Region, and later established a campus at Navrongo
in the Upper East Region. This was followed by the Wa campus and the latest being
the Tamale campus.
Addressing the
House of Chiefs, Dr. Salifu argued that, any attempt to convert the Wa and the Navrongo
campuses of the UDS, would affect the law establishing it. “The law will change....the
vision of the university will also change and even certain courses will not be allowed
to run by the university”, he stated.
Dr. Salifu who
is also the immediate past Director-General of the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR), appealed to the Northern, Upper East and Upper West
Region Houses of Chiefs to take keen interest in the desire by government to
decouple the Wa and Navrongo campuses of the UDS and make them autonomous
universities.
He suggested government
allowed the UDS to remain the way it was and resource it to establish more
campuses in addition to the existing four campuses. Apart from that, he said
government could also decide to establish totally new universities in the Upper
West and Upper East Regions.
A member of the
Northern Region House of Chiefs Kumbun-Naa Alhaji Iddrisu Abu commended Dr.
Abdulai Baba Salifu for drawing the attention of members of the House to the
development surrounding the UDS.
He urged the
House to deliberate seriously on the matter and pass a resolution on it. He
emphasised that, as traditional leaders and key stakeholders in development, all
chiefs ought to have a say regarding government’s decision to do what it
intended to do with the UDS.
Established in May 1992 by the
Government of Ghana, the UDS exist to blend the academic world with that of the
community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the
total development of Northern Ghana, in particular, and the country as a whole.
It began academic work in September
1993 with the admission of thirty-nine (39) students into the Faculty of
Agriculture (FOA), Nyankpala campus. The Faculty of Integrated Development
Studies, (FIDS), Faculty of Planning and Land Management (FPLM) and Faculty of
Education (FOE), Wa, School of Business, Wa, School of Medicine and Health Sciences
(SMHS), Tamale, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources (FRNR), Nyankpala,
Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAS), Faculty of Mathematical Sciences (FMS),
Navrongo and the Graduate School now in Tamale were phased in from 1994 to
date.
UDS is unique compared to other
public universities considering its location and multi campuses which are
spread out in rural Northern Ghana where the incidence and depth of poverty is
high. The UDS has four (4) campuses, seven (7) Faculties, a Business School,
one Medical School, one Graduate School and three (3) centres. Several programs
are run at these places.
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