…vows to make Nigerian education sector among the best in the world
The federal government, has said it would make the education sector one of the best in the world.
Minister of State for Education, Professor Viola Onwuliri, gave the federal government’s avowed readiness to uplift the sector yesterday in Owerri, Imo state, during the inspection of federal projects in public tertiary institutions in the state.
She also stated that few days into her assignment in the Ministry of Education, as part of the iconic projects that the federal government was setting aside for universities, the Imo State University was allocated the sum of N1.5 billion.
Onwuliri, while speaking at the Imo State University, said the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, was doing his utmost best to ensure that the ministry achieved its collective mandate.
She assured that with the relationship between Shekarau and herself, they would move the education sector forward.
Onwuliri added that they would also ensure that education in the country would be a pride of all Nigerians and what the international community would come to respect.
She said with Nigerians assisting the sector, the media disseminating the news, the academia doing their work, the teachers doing their best in teaching and the students learning, the sector would reach its desired goal.
Onwuliri further said the nation was presently having a zero tolerance for mass failure in the country, saying that Nigerian citizens should not be set back.
“Mr President has set the stage for transforming this country. Excellence in education is one of the key pillars of the Transformation Agenda,” Onwuliri said.
Onwuliri urged Nigerian students to reciprocate the President ‘s gesture by taking their academic work seriously.
Issues of examination malpractices, according to Onwuliri, should be over, even as she said cultism and rape on campuses should not bedevilled the education institutions.
Onwuliri also stated that few days into her assignment in the Ministry of Education, as part of the iconic projects that the federal government was setting aside for universities, the Imo State University was allocated the sum of N1.5 billion.
She expressed gratitude to the president for the generosity towards her home state and the state university.
Speaking earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the Imo State University, Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie, said the university had been one of the beneficiaries of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) projects.
The former Academic Staff Union of Universities President added that TETFUND’s intervention in the area of staff development was highly commendable.
He particularly mentioned e-library, laboratory and infrastructure where he said, the federal government has made monumental achievements.
TETFUND Project 2009/2010 Faculty of Law and TETFUND 2010 Special Project ICT Center, were inspected in the Imo State University, including other projects in Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri; Imo Polytechnic, Umuagwu, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, amongst others.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, said since he resumed office seven months ago, TETFUND has made commitment in all categories of interventions from the normal, to special projects and the non physical component like academic staff training and library development in the university to the tune of N4 billion.
