SDD-UBIDS cries over its seed money needed for the smooth running of the university

Since the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) attained its autonomy which was hailed across the region, the school is yet to secure its seed money to enable it to gain a sound footing for academic excellence.

According to the governing council, lack of the seed capital is depriving the pride of the Upper West Region of the ability to operate smoothly as expected.

This was disclosed by the Chairperson of the council, Kwaku Yamoah Painsil, during the 2nd Congregation of the school on November 3, 2023.

"Permit Mr. President, to use this opportunity once again to appeal to you as the President of the Republic of Ghana with regard to our seed money. For those of you who know, once a university is established, there is something we call seed money. For those of you in Economics, you know what we call the Infant Industry Argument which is, funds that are given to overcome its infancy and to be able to stand on its feet. We'd like to bring to your attention that despite our brilliant efforts, we have been unable to get these funds released to us," he appealed to the government".

While acknowledging the precarious predicament of the country in terms of its finances and appreciating the competing demands on the public purse, he noted that he believed the school was not asking for too much, indicating the readiness of the school to embrace any effort by the government.

During the ceremony, 1,513 students graduated, which indicates an increment from 2022 which saw 1,176 students graduating.

Charity Antwi, a Diploma student was adjudged the overall best student. She took home $500.00 from the school, an additional GH¢1,000.00 as well as a brand new laptop donated by Fidelity Bank.

The Chairman during his address also appealed to the government over some infrastructural challenges facing the University which he said needed urgent attention for its smooth academic work.

Kwaku Yamoah said: "We are once more appealing to his excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, for his urgent attention to the completion of our lecture complex, our library complex, as well as the completion of a 600 hostel capacity facility and an administration block which we also require urgently."

He furthered that in the last two years, the governing council had chalked some successes by coming out with some policy documents for the sound running of the school.

"There have been a few achievements that it's my pleasure to bring to your notice. Over the past two years, the University Governing Council has worked assiduously to ensure that there are available policy documents to guide the smooth operations of our University. Accordingly, the Council considered and approved the following policy documents: a five-year strategic plan. This 5-year strategic plan spans from the period from 2021 to 2025. We have also published the statutes of this University".

"We have published an Administrative Manual for the smooth running of this University. We have a Sexual Harassment policy which should bring a lot of relief to both students and staff. Plagiarism policy as well as Graduand policy. This is what the Governing Council has been able to do over these last 2 years," he outlined.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Philip Osei Duku, on his part, appealed to the government for the necessary financial clearance to enable the University to employ additional lecturers and other critical staff to fill the void created through the creation of new faculties in the past years which he indicated are currently under-staffed.