JOSTUM VC Explains Why He Recruited 70 First-Class Graduates
Prof Isaac Itodo says the decision to bring the university’s brightest former students back as Graduate Assistants is part of a long-term strategy to build its next generation of professors, researchers and institutional leaders.
By Abdullahi Yusuf
When Prof Isaac Itodo began expanding the workforce at Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi (JOSTUM), he was thinking beyond the immediate needs of a growing university.
The Vice-Chancellor says the decision to recruit about 70 First-Class graduates was driven by a longer-term calculation: that the institution’s future would depend not only on the buildings being constructed, but on the people who would eventually run, teach and develop the university.
“While I was setting up modern infrastructure across JOSTUM, I was very conscious of one thing; infrastructure can only stand the test of time when there are brilliant minds within the system to sustain, improve and build upon it,” Itodo said.
The recruitment formed part of two employment exercises through which the university increased its academic and non-academic workforce by more than 500 staff over the past few years, according to the Vice-Chancellor.
Itodo said the exercises were largely merit-based, with competence and the university’s institutional needs guiding the recruitment process.
But he singled out the Graduate Assistant cadre as particularly important to the university’s long-term future.
For Itodo, Graduate Assistants are not simply junior employees. They represent the pool from which future academics, researchers, administrators and institutional leaders can be developed.
His administration therefore sought to bring some of JOSTUM’s strongest former students back into the university.
Itodo said he directed College Deans and Heads of Departments to identify outstanding graduates who could be reintegrated into the institution. He also worked through the JOSTUM Alumni Association, asking its leadership to identify former students who had completed the National Youth Service Corps and graduated with First-Class degrees, and encourage them to apply for Graduate Assistant positions.
The plan encountered a practical constraint: the number of available positions was limited.
“When the demands from the various Colleges came, I stood my ground. Although the available slots were limited, I adjusted the plans accordingly to ensure that we could absorb as many of these outstanding young graduates as possible,” he said.
The result, according to the Vice-Chancellor, was the return of about 70 First-Class graduates to the university system.
“Today, almost every department has welcomed some of its best brains back into the system,” Itodo said.
He described the decision as more than an employment exercise, saying it was intended to create a pipeline of young academics who could eventually take on senior responsibilities within the institution.
“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 projected that the recruits could rise through the university 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.
Itodo said the university had also employed several Second-Class and Third-Class graduates in other positions, stressing that they were products of JOSTUM who deserved opportunities to contribute to its development.
He described the approach as his template for employment, insisting that recruitment should be based on merit, competence and institutional needs rather than personal connections.
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