…Accuse Darius of not visiting the college since he assumed office
…We have written severally without response – Provost
By Chuwang Dungs, Jalingo
The Taraba State College of Agriculture located in Jalingo, the state capital, is in a terrible state due to several years of maladministration by past and present administrators. Apart from total lack of facilities for recreation and extra-curricular activities, wild grasses have taken over a larger part of the college established in 1979 to train and impart skills on agriculture and related fields for gainful self employment and effective extension services in the defunct Gongola State and beyond.
As a result of this development, the college is said to be lagging behind other first generation agricultural institutions in terms of academic and other recreational facilities.
For example, the only access road to the college from the entry point is not tarred, and it has lots of potholes. It was also observed that a larger part of the road, sandwiched ibetween thick bushes, was overgrown with grasses. The entire college is not fenced, a situation that gives room for encroachment by the host community, who have converted half of its premises to  farmland and grazing field.
Also, the college matriculation and graduation square has turned into a mockery of sorts for a higher academy of learning, it has been taken over by rodents just as it has become a free toilet zone for students and other passers-by. A development that as forced the institution to perform convocation ceremonies in classrooms in the last few years.
Furthermore, the school is faced with huge accommodation challenges as lecturers struggle to get office spaces while students fight to secure seats in exam venues during examinations due to acute shortage of classrooms.
Our reporter, who went round the institution, also observed that the lecturers’ quarters are in deplorable state as most flats are in near state of total dilapidation.

Worst among the facilities in the institution is the dilapidated female hostel, walking around the vulnerable girls hostel portends danger mostly at night as female students could be gang raped, harassed and intimidated without being well protected.
A lecturer at the College who preferred anonymity, blamed the Taraba State Government for not taking concrete steps to improve on the status of the school since the creation of the state in 1991.
He said, “We thought things would change when Taraba State was created and Jalingo became the state capital but as you can see, the structures here are still the ones that were there when the state was created. Unfortunately, these structures are worn out and they no longer befit the status of a higher institution of learning. The few ones that were erected were either build by ETF or politicians. For instance the two new office blocks you saw were constructed and donated by Hon. Danladi Baido, the member representing Lau/Karim Lamido federal constituency.”
“As lecturers, we find it difficult to get office accommodation. Most times you find many lecturers squatting in one office space that is also not worth being called an office.”

He further disclosed that a former lecturer of the institution, who was also a former member of House of Representatives, representing Jalingo, Ardokola and Zing federal constituency, Aminu Malle, built and equipped Entrepreneurship Development Centre at the premises of the school but the provost decided not to take over the structure for political reasons.
Our reporter gathered that the provost refused to take over the structure based on instruction from above, simply because Malle is APC and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state don’t want him to get the credit, unfortunately the abandoned building which was well equipped had also been taken over by reptiles.
Another lecturer who also spoke to our reporter in confident said: “The host communities are encroaching on the college land. There is no parameter fence, and this has exposed the school to a whole lot of danger. You will find out that a large portion of land belonging to the college has been taken over by the community. They are farming and grazing on the land. I am sure you saw the state of the road when you were coming to this place. The road has remained untarred, and a good portion of it has been over taken by grasses.”
A former student of the institution, who simply identified himself as Samuel, frowned at the poor state of facilities in the college. Samuel lamented that since 2013 when he graduated, the school has remained a good example of a failed system.
“I passed out from the college in 2013. I am a Jukun man from this state, and anytime I come close to this college I feel ashamed as an indigene of the state and also an ex-student. It does not, in any way, look like an institution. From the entrance to the entire premises, there is nothing good to talk about the college. I have never seen an institution that does not have recreation facilities.
“There is no fence, and this has exposed the college to great danger. I have seen higher institutions in neighbouring states. The shanties we call college of agriculture here is a different image from what is obtainable in other states. What we have here looks like a place where animals are trained, a replica of decay and total collapse,” he said.
On why parts of the college have been converted to farmlands and grazing field, he said, “When you leave your property open, invaders will come in. The school has an expansive and fertile land, that is why many people are encroaching on it for farming. When the entire compound is not fenced and is abandoned, what do you expect people to do? They will use it for personal gains.
Many of the students who spoke gave a graphic description of the institution as a “glorify secondary school” adding that the school was in a pitiable condition.
They also decried the dilapidated infrastructural facilities in the school stressing that the state government has neglected them, despite the high levies they are paying.

Apart from accusing the Darius-government of ‘total neglect, the students also accused the governor of not visiting the institution since the advent of his administration in 2015.
Speaking to our reporter, one of the leaders of the student union noted that the students of the institution had been complaining about the unfavorable policies, government and management neglect and dilapidated infrastructures in the institution but with no result.
The student leader also accused the management of the institution of being  stooges to the governor. Stressing that it is a pity that the management cannot convince the governor to visit the institution and see things for himself.
“The present administration in the state has failed to impact positively on the college, the college has been left in its own ghost as no meaningful development could be seen, all infrastructure in the school are obsolete and the management being stooge to the governor cannot convince him to visit the school and see things for himself.”
However the governor who inaugurated the governing council of the college on Friday 25th June 2021 under the Chairmanship of Dr Muhammed Shatta, a former minister, said his administration remains resolute in its determination to reposition agriculture as the bedrock of the state’s economy.

But observers of events in the state criticized the governor’s position noting that the agricultural sector in the state  has not been receiving sufficient funding, stressing that the governor has continually played politics and lip service to the sector. 
“He talks so much about it and then there’s nothing much in terms of action.”
One of the observers reasoned that  ” how can a governor claim to be passionate about agriculture when the only State owned, agricultural college could not boast of any singular infrastructural facility put in place by  his administration since its inception in 2015.”
In an effort to speak with the Provost of the College Dr. Elizabeth Wachap, our reporter visited the college on Monday 28 June 2021, on arrival he was informed that she was in a meeting with the newly inaugurated council members.
Our reporter who waited patiently for over four hours for the meeting to end, filled the visitors form requesting to see the Provost.
The provost declined making any official comment, our reporter however had a brief encounter with her while she was leaving the office.
While at the corridor of her office, she asked, “what do you want to see me for, you can see I  just finished a meeting with the new council members. You can come during our next meeting.
Our reporter while insisting that he came to see her to clarify some issues, she said. ” What do you want me to say, is the same old story on dilapidation, you can see it yourself, we have written severally but no response. I have nothing to say but maybe with the new board things will change.”