THE TRUE COST OF BUILDING A UNIVERSITY LIKE UAST
Nigeria
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THE TRUE COST OF BUILDING A UNIVERSITY LIKE UAST
The cost of a university is never in the bricks you can see but in the values you cannot measure. The true price is not counted in tonnes of concrete, hectares of land, or gleaming laboratories. It is carried in the invisible scaffolding of human character, vision, and willpower.
To build a university like the Benue State University of Agriculture, Science and Technology (UAST) is to enter into a covenant with the future. It is to ask: what kind of minds shall we shape, what kind of society shall we leave behind, and what sacrifices are we willing to bear in order to achieve this?
Universities are not factories that merely produce certificates. They are crucibles where raw curiosity is forged into disciplined knowledge, where the spirit of a people is preserved even as they are prepared for the demands of tomorrow. In societies that understood this truth, universities became engines of transformation. The land-grant universities of the United States unlocked the potential of agriculture and industry. Germany’s technical institutes powered its leap into modernity. Chinese Institutes layed a foundation for the Chinese economic miracle, Makerere, in East Africa, once called the “Harvard of Africa,” became a breeding ground for leaders and thinkers who would shape post-colonial nations.
The Nigerian context makes this undertaking heavier. Here, education has too routinely been reduced to a political bargaining chip, a paper qualification for government jobs, or a conveyor belt for mediocrity. To build a true university in Nigeria is therefore to resist these temptations, to swim against the current of patronage and short-termism that has corroded so many of our institutions.
The cost, therefore, lies first in courage. It demands leaders who can withstand the pressures of politics, who can say no to vested interests eager to turn lecture halls into avenues of patronage. It requires discipline from both government and society to understand that a university is not a quick-fix project but a generational investment.
This is where the role of leadership becomes decisive. In Professor Qrisstuberg Msughter Amua, Vice Chancellor of UAST, one sees an attempt to embody this higher vision. His stewardship is not simply about erecting classrooms or laboratories but about planting seeds of integrity and innovation. A Vice Chancellor in Nigeria today must be part builder, part philosopher, and part defender of truth, for without such a blend the institution will be swallowed by the same forces that have crippled others.
The cost also lies in patience. Nigerians are consistently in a hurry for results. Parents want their children to graduate quickly, politicians want projects to show within four years, and communities want immediate jobs. But a true university matures like a tree by first, slowly sending its roots into the soil of culture and economy, and then, gradually offering shade to society. The impatience of our political culture is itself an obstacle, and overcoming it requires honesty and resilience from the university’s leadership.
Another hidden cost is cultural adaptation. A university must not be an imported model grafted onto alien soil. It must reflect the rhythms, values, and struggles of its people. UAST cannot simply replicate Western templates; it must be grounded in Nigerian realities by addressing food security, environmental pressures, and technological adaptation in a way that speaks to the farmer in ukum, the student in Makurdi, and the entrepreneur in Lagos and Abuja. Achieving this balance is not cheap because it requires intellectual humility and openness.
Finally, the cost lies in sacrifice. The sacrifice students faculty who choose the harder road of teaching and research in an environment where shortcuts are plentiful. The sacrifice of students who resist the lure of paper certificates without substance. The sacrifice of leaders like Professor Amua, who must absorb criticism, balance competing interests, and still keep their eyes fixed on the horizon of possibility.
To build a university like UAST is therefore to accept that the price cannot be measured only in billions of naira. The true cost is measured in the moral stamina of its leaders, the intellectual honesty of its teachers, the seriousness of its students, and the collective patience of its society. Nigeria does not lack universities in number, but it lacks universities in spirit.
If UAST succeeds, it will not be because of the grandeur of its buildings. It will be because it dared to pay the higher price of truth, integrity, and relevance. It will be because it built not only structures but people.
Tor Ahemba
From the take off site UAST
Article sent by Correspondent Dooyum Naadzenga
