Pro-chancellor decries students protests

Pro-chancellor, University of Benin (UNIBEN), Olorogun Sonny Kuku, yesterday, cautioned against students protests in tertiary institutions.

The Pro-chancellor gave the warning during Uniben’s 46 and 47th convocation and award presentation ceremony in Benin.

He said: “It will be an understatement to say the increasing trend of undergraduate restiveness is worrisome. Many institutions of higher learning including our dear UNIBEN, have in the last three months witnessed potentially dangerous student protests. In most of the cases, such protest turned out to be mere storm in a teacup after the dust had settled.

He lamented poor funding of universities in the country, stressing that for the desired result of producing highly skilled and competent manpower to drive the socio-economic wheel of the country to be achieved, funding has to be increased substantially to meet the needs of tertiary institutions.

MEANWHILE, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Lilian Salami, yesterday, restated her commitment to ensuring the institution remains a potential hub for environmental research and sustainability.

Salami, made the disclosure during the commissioning of ACTUATE Biodigester site, a project funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF-EPSRC), and the Global Research Translation Award (GRTA).

In his remarks, the ACTUATE Team Lead, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, informed the vice-chancellor and her management team that the ACTUATE Project is a translation of the RECIRCULATE Project which is also funded by the GCRF and which has Lancaster University, UK, Lancaster University, Ghana and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana as partners.