This is a set back to the overall development of Benue State
Concentration of Government owned tertiary institutions of learning in Makurdi, a set back to the overall development of the State
Makurdi is popular for its status as the capital city of Benue State. Government machinery must be run in Makurdi which is already a factor to attract a lot of people to it. Surprisingly, almost 50% of government – owned tertiary institutions of learning are also located in Makurdi. Among them are:
- University of Agriculture,
- Benue State University,
- School of Nursing and Midwifery, and
- The College of Advanced and Professional Studies.
The others which include a polytechnic, two colleges of education and a college of agriculture are sparsely distributed to the remaining part of the state, a situation I can describe as poor planning.
First and foremost, it has deprived the vast majority of the state the development that these higher institutions would have brought to their domain and secondly, it has given rise to over population in Makurdi metropolis resulting in other consequences like incessant robbery cases, dominance of cult activities to mention but a few.
It is in my candid advice that some of the tertiary institutions of learning be relocated to avert the doom that this might bring to Makurdi town in the near future. If a younger state like Taraba can do relocation of higher institutions of learning and make it have effect within two years, I think our dynamic state can do better. Kogi State is one state to be cited when talking about even distribution of institutions (not just those of learning) in the state. Lokoja, which is the capital city of Kogi State just got a higher institution of learning recently, since its creation in 1991. Taraba and Kogi are our neighbouring states, besides they are much younger than us, we can dynamically be ahead in this regard!