The Benue State House of Assembly, presided over by its speaker, Hyacinth Dajo, has passed the bills to rename the Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, after Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu.

The assembly, during plenary on Tuesday, also passed a bill for the establishment of the Benue State University of Agriculture, Science, and Technology, Ihugh, Vandeikya Local Government Area.

The speaker said that the bills underwent thorough legislative scrutiny and were therefore passed.

The passage of the bills follows a debate led by a member of the House Standing Committee on Tertiary Education, Douglas Akya, who stood in for the committee chairman, Manger Manger (APC/Tarka).

Mr Akya said that the proposed law for renaming BSU after the second civilian governor of the state, who was also the founder of the institution, was timely and needed accelerated passage.

He, therefore, urged the house to consider and pass it speedily.

Relatedly, Mr Akya appreciated the state executive council for initiating the bill for the establishment of a University of Agriculture, Science, and Technology, saying that the law was a welcome development.

He explained that when established, it would create employment and provide vast knowledge to Nigerians, not only Benue indigenes.

“As a professional university, it will help to complement the former University of Agriculture, Makurdi, which has become a conventional university with the name Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi (JOSTUM).

He again urged the House to give it the desired consideration and pass it.

In his contribution, the majority leader, Saater Tiseer, said that the bill to rename BSU after Mr Adasu was to honour him and not to tamper with anything other than the name.

Mr Tiseer said that if that was done, the founder of the institution would be immortalised.

The majority leader explained that the new university was to be named the University of Agriculture, Science, and Technology in order to make it peculiar, thereby receiving assistance that other conventional institutions do not have access to.

He told his colleagues that Governor Hyacinth Alia had secured a lot of partnerships already that were agriculture-tailored.

Meanwhile, William Ortyom (PDP/Agasha) commended the committee for painstakingly preparing the bills for passage.

Mr Ortyom said that the only industry that flourished in Benue was education, emphasising that no government tertiary institution had been in a comatose state.

He urged the governor to establish more of such so as to reduce unemployment as well as the dependency ratio.

He, however, said that he was not comfortable with the name, stating that it was too long; it should be shortened to University of Technology, and it could even cover courses in non-science-based disciplines.

The clerk of the House, John Hwande, read the two bills for the third time.

(NAN)