Tamale, Feb. 13, GNA - The Vice-Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS) Mr. John B.K. Kaburise said on Saturday in Tamale that he could not understand why political and social leaders from Northern Ghana do not appear to embrace the UDS and its work.

He said the location of the University was not only a political statement but also an effort and aspiration to uplift the social and economic conditions of the affected areas.

He said it was therefore, disheartening to hear from these leaders only at the time of admissions and on a few occasions when they wanted him to interfere with the disciplinary processes of the university.

Mr. Kuburise raised these concerns at the 5th congregation of 189 students including the first batch of 15 medical students from the UDS, who had completed their studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

He said it was unacceptable that people use their "Northerners" to advance their political careers, while at the same time turned a blind eye to the educational conditions of Northerners they purported to have represented.

"They show no concern for the national development of this university which they can do by lobbying for greater commitment of resources to its development", he said.

The Vice-Chancellor noted that many of the "so-called leaders" did not know the physical conditions of the campuses of the University, let alone the state of their non-development.

He said: "what is even painful is that an impression had been created that those of us who have committed our energies to the development of the University are seen as masochists".

"By these actions and omissions, they stretch the limits of the patience and enthusiasm of the few who are doing the work despite the heavy odds", he said.

He announced that the University had established a "Tudu" Institute, a think tank group of professional aimed at analysing all development issues in West African sub-region in relation to their effects and implications on the development of the savanna area of the sub-region.

"Tudu" refers to the West African Savanna areas and the UDS as a Ghanaian institution would place emphasis on development issues in the country as well as global issues.

Mr. Kaburise appealed to the government to incorporate agricultural colleges within the University catchment areas into the University. He said such a measure would place the agricultural colleges to facilitate the development of the rural communities that they served. Mr. Daniel Charles Gyimah, Chairman of the University council said, the UDS was established to facilitate the solution of national, social and development problems and should therefore, be seen as a national asset.

He therefore, appealed to the public to disabuse the minds of those who had the belief that the University was meant to serve only sectional interests.

"I want to state that the UDS like all other public universities is to serve the entire nation and beyond", and called on stakeholders in education to join hands to develop it to enable it to achieve its noble objectives