Both Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule and first civilian governor of the state and National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, have appealed to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TetFund), to construct hostels for students at the Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK).
Engineer Sule and Senator Adamu made their separate appeals during the commissioning of new projects in NSUK, including the new senate building, in Keffi, on Monday.
According to the Governor, he visited the head office of the TetFund to appeal to the agency to consider constructing hostels to accommodate students of the university.
“I am hoping that as a Governor, since you have over 300 projects to execute, I am hoping one of such projects is going to be hostels in this university. That is the reason why I visited you in your office,” he told the Executive Secretary of the TetFund, Arch. Sonny Ochonu.
On his part, Senator Adamu, on behalf of the management of NSUK, appealed to the TetFund to consider building hostels for the university, as according to him, over 90 percent of the students live outside the university.
Commenting on the event, Engineer Sule while commending the TetFund for providing the resources for building the gigantic edifice for NSUK to serve as senate building, said the facility will afford conducive working environment for the university administration towards discharging its onerous responsibility effectively and efficiently.
The Governor expressed similar appreciation to TetFund on the commissioning the central engineering workshop at the faculty of engineering Gudi campus, stressing that technical education is the live wire of the society, especially that the world today is driven by technology.
“Technical education is a veritable institutional mechanism for computerization of research and development, dedigned to serve as catalyst for sharpening and promotoom of indigenous potentials for innovation and insustrial development,” he stated.
Engineer Sule expressed hope that the engineering workshop will serve as a catalyst for sharpening and promoting indigenous potentials for innovation and insustrial development, as well as provide a range of mechanical engineering services and also train middle cadre technical manpower for the socio-economic development of the state.
He added that the WHO/Unikilinikum Institute of Molecular Diagnostics and Infectious Diseases Control Centre, is designed to also serve as a research hub, crucible for innovations and operational research that will provoke policy initiations.
The Governor used the opportunity to appreciate some illustrious sons of the state, particularly Prof Mohammed Sani Haruna, Executive Vice Chairman, NASENI and Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, NPHDA, for their various interventions in the university and state in general.
For Professor Ibrahim Gambari, who was special guest of honour, the event was not only a milestone but a great leap forward for the university in the steady march towards attaining the status of a leader among state universities in the country.
“The senate building in any university is seen as symbol and the epicenter of both administrative and academic activities of the university. This building is where critical and strategic policies decisions are deliberated upon and later determines the quality of the work undertaken by the university,” Prof Gambari, who is the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, stated.
In his address, Senator Abdullahi Adamu described the event as not only a milestone but another giant leap in the infrastructure development of the university.
Senator Adamu who founded the university when he was governor, commended Engineer Sule for supporting the establishment of the faculty of engineering and medical health sciences and for taking over full payment of salaries of workers of the university, among others.
While also appreciating the executive secretary of TetFund, Arch Sonny Ochonu, for the innovations he brought to TetFund, Dr Faisal Shuaib for providing funds for the remodeling of the WHO molecular diagnostics center and Professor Haruna, for donating engineering equipment for the take off of the faculty of engineering in Gudi, Senator Adamu appealed to other prominent sons and daughters of the state to think of ways to assist the university.
In a welcome address, Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Bala Mohammed, commended Engineer Sule for his role in attracting the high impact project from TetFund, which led to the construction of the new senate building.
The vice chancellor equally commended the Governor for personally donating N20m in support of the take off of the proposed faculty of engineering in Gudi campus, as well as agreeing to take up full payment of salaries of workers of the university.
