Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi (JOSTUM), formally University of Agriculture Makurdi(UAM) has turned to some of its best graduates to strengthen its academic pipeline, with about 70 First-Class alumni recruited into the university system.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Itodo, said the initiative was designed to retain exceptional young talents and groom them for future roles as lecturers, researchers and university administrators.
According to him, the recruitment was part of a broader human capital strategy aimed at ensuring that the university’s rapid expansion in infrastructure was matched by a strong and sustainable academic workforce.
Itodo said his administration had increased the university’s workforce by more than 500 academic and non-academic staff through two recruitment exercises in recent years.
He explained that particular attention was paid to the Graduate Assistant cadre, which he described as the training ground for future academics and institutional leaders.
The Vice-Chancellor said he directed deans and heads of departments to identify outstanding former students who had completed the National Youth Service Corps and graduated with First-Class degrees.
The university also worked with its Alumni Association to encourage qualified former students to return and apply for Graduate Assistant positions.
Itodo said the university adjusted its recruitment plans to accommodate as many outstanding graduates as possible despite limited available slots.
The move, he said, resulted in the return of about 70 First-Class graduates to JOSTUM.
“Today, almost every department has welcomed some of its best brains back into the system. For me, this is more than an employment exercise; it is a deliberate human capital strategy to identify, retain and develop young minds who can become the future professors, researchers, leaders and innovators of JOSTUM,” he said.
Itodo said the strategy was intended to produce academic leaders who would shape the university’s future over the next two decades.
“Watch what happens over the next 20 years when these young minds become professors, deans, directors and institutional leaders. The impact on our institution will be significant,” he said.
He stressed that the recruitment policy was not restricted to First-Class graduates, noting that Second-Class and Third-Class graduates had also been employed in other positions according to the university’s manpower needs.
The Vice-Chancellor maintained that merit, competence and institutional requirements, rather than personal connections, remained the guiding principles for recruitment at JOSTUM.
He said investing in young academics was essential to preserving the gains made in infrastructure and ensuring continuity in teaching, research and university administration.