President Goodluck Jonathan has charged heads of tertiary and public institutions in the country to make prudent management of resources their watchword.
Jonathan gave the charge on Monday while inaugurating some projects executed by the authorities of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, near Umuahia in Abia.
The president, who was represented by the Minister of Education, Prof. Raquyyatu Rufai, also tasked tertiary institutions to imbibe the culture of prompt maintenance of existing infrastructure.
‘’By prudent management of resources, utilising effectively the wide array of human and material resources at their disposal, our institutions will achieve optimal success.’’
He told universities and public institutions to ‘’relentlessly explore innovative methods of partnering with the private sector in addressing the challenges of funding and provision of infrastructure.’’
According to him, maintenance is a necessity, not an option needed to ensure greater efficiency and utilisation of the facilities.
He further charged the institutions to engage in research, especially in areas that were relevant to national development.
The president restated the commitment of the Federal Government to the improvement of access and quality education in the country.
‘’As part of our drive to improving access to quality education, we have progressively increased budgetary allocation to the education sector from N234.8 billion in 2010 to N426.5 billion in the current fiscal year,’’ he said.
He described the establishment of 12 new federal universities in the country with each state having at least one federal university as part of the initiative to enhance access to university education.
Jonathan commended the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Hilary Edeoga, for the execution of the projects, which included 10 hostel blocks for students.
He described the efforts as ‘’laudable and worthy of emulation by other institutions of higher learning.’’
In his speech, Edeoga said that the hostel blocks, christened ‘’President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Hostels”, gulped N1.49 billion.
He said that the project was embarked upon in August, 2012 and was financed with the university’s ‘’meagre internally generated revenue’’.
Other projects inaugurated by the minister include a library complex and College of Engineering and Engineering Technology built at a cost of N57.65 million and N73 million, respectively.
Edeoga said that through the intervention of TETFund, the university also built the College of Agricultural Economics, Rural Sociology and Extension block at a cost of N71.3 million.
Also inaugurated were the College of Natural Sciences block and College of Veterinary, which were built at a cost of N150.5 million and N154.5 million, respectively.
He said that each of the hostels contained 64 rooms with a total of 264 bed spaces with relevant facilities, including toilets and bathrooms for ‘’minimum comfort to students’’.
The vice chancellor appealed to the president to approve adequate take-off grant for the university as was done to the Universities of Agriculture in Makurdi and Abeokuta.
He said that the institution would require over N500 million to execute other projects in the university, including internal roads, fencing, landscaping, drains furnishing and extension of high tension lines. (NAN)
