UNIBEN eyes N100bn funding for infrastructural upgrade
May 15, 2026 12:19 am
FILE: UNIBEN main gate
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The management of the University of Benin has instituted a trust development fund to raise N100bn to develop infrastructure in the institution.
Some of the facilities include a five-star hotel, ultramodern hostels, a state-of-the-art sports complex and others that would make the institution a befitting one.
Speaking at the unveiling of the fund’s web portal and outlining the institution’s expectations on Wednesday evening, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Edoba Omoregie (SAN), said he was inspired by a similar initiative done by Oxford University about 30 years ago.
Edoba said on his return to the university after seven years away, he met a dilapidated infrastructure in the university’s two campuses, and the books were also in the red, adding that it became obvious that the school needed extra funding apart from what it was getting as allocation and its internally generated revenue.
He said the Board of Trustees was inaugurated earlier, chaired by an alumnus and prominent politician, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Edoba said, “When I took office as vice chancellor, the first task I embarked upon was to visit the hostels. I went to all the hostels in Ugbowo and the Ekheuan campus.
“I also visited some of the academic facilities, and for someone who had been away for about seven years from university, I didn’t know that the facilities had decayed so rapidly.
“I was very concerned. I also looked at the books of the university, and I saw that finances were in a shambolic state.
“We could barely even pay the electricity bill, the university was cut off from the public supply system for three months, there was student unrest, I was in Abuja then, watching from afar, and I was weeping inside me about what was going to happen to our university.”
He said he began research to look at how the university could begin to assess alternative sources of funds, even as he tried to eliminate waste.
In his speech, the chairman of the BoT, Ize-Iyamu, said the formal launch for the N100b fund would be held on July 4, 2026.
He described the target as achievable if members of the UNIBEN alumni worldwide, philanthropists, and well-meaning individuals key into the vision.
Ize-Iyamu said the fund would foster institutional progress, emphasising that international higher education advancements are propelled by alumni support and sustainable partnerships.
Ize-Iyamu said, “The mandate is to raise N100bn that will be used to provide modern facilities for the institution. It is the evolving reality that the institution needs funds to thrive that drives the vision behind the University of Benin Trust Development Fund.
“Our mission is clear, and that is to establish an enduring financial and development framework that will continuously empower the University of Benin to deliver excellence in teaching, research, infrastructure, technology, entrepreneurship, and human capital development that the future generations will be proud to inherit.”
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