Stakeholders Give Support To 5 Education Bills At Senate | READ MORE

Stakeholders in the education sector threw their weight behind bills for establishment of five tertiary educational institutions at a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tertiary Education Trust Fund TETFund on Thursday in Abuja.

The five educational institutions include Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, Federal College of Education, Jama’are, (both in Bauchi state), University of History, Archeology and Education, Ese Kwara state, Federal Polytechnic, Kabo, Kano state and Federal University of Education, Okene Kogi state.

Three of the bills: Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, Federal College of Education, Jama’are, (both in Bauchi state), and Federal Polytechnic, Kabo, Kano state were sponsored by Senator Barau Jibrin (Kano North) while University of History, Archeology and Education, Ese Kwara state was sponsored by Senator Lola Ashiru (Kwara South and Federal University of Education, Okene Kogi state was sponsored by Senator Yakubu Oseni (Kogi Central).

The enormous support enjoyed by the bills was glaring as there was no single objection to any of the five bills by stakeholders.

Declaring the session open, Senate President Ahmed Lawan said the five bills reflect on educational needs of the country.

Represented by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Ajayi Boroffice (Ondo North), Lawan observed that the proposals are adequate and expressed optimism on the capacity of the committee to do a thorough job on the bills before it.

Earlier, chairman of the committee, Senator Ahmed Baba-Kaita (Katsina North) told the gathering that most of the bills were executive bills.

Baba-Kaita said “the bills will mitigate shortage of manpower in Nigeria”.

He noted that the five bills if passed and assented by President Muhammadu Buhari will improve overall quality of education.

“The viability of these institutions is a responsibility of all, we urge you to make quality contribution. The Senate committee will leave no stone unturned to provide quality education in Nigeria”.

In his remarks, Mahmud Yayale Ahmed former Minister of Defence and former Head of Service, who hails from Katagum in Bauchi state praised the efforts of the Senate and other stakeholders for putting the interest of the youth above other interests.

Prof. Suleiman Elias Bogoro, former Executive Secretary of TETFund said “you can’t have too many universities, especially that of Health Sciences.
He said “at TETFund we tried to apply the resources for uplifting educational institutions.

“Whatever roles we played and those we will play in the future will be for the advancement of our education”, he said.

The highlight of the hearing was that there was no dissenting voice among all those that spoke on the five bills.