The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described education as one of the most critical sectors of the national development that would be given priority by his Renewed Hope administration.
According to the Minister’s aide, President Tinubu disclosed this during the unveiling of the TETFund sponsored education projects in Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on Friday.
The President who was represented by the Minister of Works, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi, commended TETFund for the roles it has been playing in advancing educational development in Nigeria noting that education has a pride of place in the 2024 proposed project which is now before the National Assembly for consideration.
“TETFund is playing vital roles in our educational system. TETFund has over the years played the role of bridging the gap of infrastructure and research in our tertiary institutions”
The President commended the Governor for the environment provided by State which saw to the successful completion of the TETFund sponsored projects. “I want to thank you very much our dear Governor. You are well suited for this position”.
He also commended the TETFund management for the sense of prudence and value for money exhibited in the course of the execution of the TETFund projects in the University
He gave assurances that education and road infrastructure among other critical sectors of the economy shall attract unprecedented commitment of the Renewed Hope administration as they are among precursors for the rejigging of the national economy.
In his earlier address, the Governor of Ebonyi State, Rt Hon. Bldr Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, described as laudable the TETFund sponsored projects in the University and commended the Federal Government for finding the State worthy of benefiting from such funding from TETFund.
“I have analyzed the project of TETFund, I have looked at it and found out that the value of and the reason for the project is very enormous. This is the Agency of government that is not given to any story. If you are a contractor to TETFund, you must know they don’t take story. There is no provision for revaluation of job, no variation”
And this he said is the way to go for us to show effectiveness and efficiency in the use of the tax payers resources. The Governor expressed hope that TETFund would give more interventions to the State, noting that a lot of interventions had eluded the State especially infrastructural interventions from Federal Government and so the State is hoping to benefit more from the Federal Government.
He thanked the representative of Mr President for his roles in the Federal Government’s interventions in the State so far and hoped that more would be attracted to the State
In their earlier remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Chigozie N Ogbu, and the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny S T Echono, took their turns to commend the President of Nigeria, Tinubu for his manifest commitment in raising the bar in educational development in Nigeria, particularly his interest in the development of tertiary education.
The Vice Chancellor noted that it was the first time in the history of the University that TETFund sponsored projects were being commissioned at the University and they are grateful to the President.
“I am very happy to report that all our infrastructural and supply projects from TETFund are completed except for one pending installation of the solar panels for the lecture podia already supplied. “We are grateful to TETFund for these impactful input into the development of Ebonyi State University”
The Executive Secretary of TETFund on his own part said he was optimistic that the TETFund sponsored projects in the University would strengthen the University’s efforts in becoming a global player in the tertiary education sub-sector and significantly contribute to educational research and development.
“Our resolve as a Fund is to ensure that our interventions are sustained and improved upon as much as possible to enable our institutions undertake bigger and more laudable and impactful projects that will make them become globally competitive and situate them in enviable positions among their peers both nationally and globally.
“We shall continually engage with our beneficiary institutions towards ensuring the delivery of iconic and impactful intervention projects in subsequent intervention years”
It is noteworthy to mention that the Projects commissioned by President were attracted by the representative of the President when he was the Governor of Ebonyi State. The Projects commissioned are: Faculty of Education. This is a Four-Floor structure containing 27 classrooms, 3 major teaching laboratories, 66 offices, Faculty Library and 2 lecture theaters. The classrooms, offices, laboratories and lecture theaters are furnished.
University Library: This is a three-floor structure housing e-Library, Library Sections for each Faculty; Sections for bindery, references and cataloging. There is a section for bookshop. There are twelve offices and a Board Room.
Information Communication Technology/Research Center: This is a 2-Floor building containing 500 seating capacity furnished auditorium, four ICT Halls with 582 desktop computers for CBT Exams and training. MacArthur Foundation Advertising Practitioners Laboratory and offices.
