The Federal Government has assured that its massive interventions in the education sector will be sustained revealing that an additional N200 Billion is being committed to the development of university education in the country.
Minister of Information and Supervising Minister of Defence, Mr. Labaran Maku, made this known in Kaduna on Monday during an inspection of projects at the Nigerian Defence Academy.
He pointed out that the amount only covers the universities recalling that the Federal Government in the past two year has spent over N15billion to transform workshops in about 51 polytechnics.
He therefore called on the managements of the institutions to ensure proper management and utilization of resources through more cost effective and efficient programmes and projects.
Commenting on some of the projects inspected at the NDA, Mr. Maku said “This initiative of the CBN is exclusive of TETFund intervention. At the University of Benin we counted more than 30 TETFund projects. We want to make it clear that in terms of physical infrastructure, we are sinking hundreds of billions of naira into our universities.
“At the University of Jos we saw something similar. The CBN has this (Centre of Excellence) in several universities.
“We are telling Nigerians that a lot of money has been going into education and the funding is not only coming directly from Federal Government. Here we can see the CBN Centre of Excellence for the NDA.
“If you look at the layout here, there are lecture theaters, there are libraries, there are hostels. Now if you look at the facilities spread across the Academy it will cost the CBN about N11billion. That is what the CBN is investing here. This is outside the direct budget of the Federal Government.
“The CBN has this in virtually every geopolitical zone of the country in several universities”.
The Minister, however insisted that while Government is doing a lot, 2 or 3 years are not enough to fix the rot accumulated over the last 30 years. “We are still doing so much more”, Maku stated.
He used the occasion to also appreciate President Goodluck Jonathan for introducing the admission of female cadets into the NDA. “This is history making for Nigerian women”, he said.
Maku said “Every administration has left its footprint here. What the President has done is to build on what his predecessors have put on ground at the Academy
“We are very proud of the standards mainatined and improved upon since the indians left
“Today NDA has taken the place of foreign institutions where trainings were outsourced to. I am happy that the Nigerian Armed Forces is looking ahead with the kind of steps taken to counter terrorism and insurgency”.
The Minister further assured the country’s armed forces that investments by Federal Government to the premier institution and other military institutions will continue and urged them to make good use of the opportunities as well as come up with innovations to move the armed forces forward.
“The Nigeria Armed Forces is known for its standards and training doctrine, loyalty which makes it stand out”, he emphasized.
Deputy Commandant, NDA, Air Vice Marshal A.A. Zannah said the Academy has about 1,300 cadets now and about 300 of them are female.
“We now have a gym, a 3,000 seater auditorium started in 2011 and 70 percent complete, 2,000 seater Multipurpose Hall, boarding school, weapons training school under construction and an ultra-modern hospital that can house about 200 patients.
“In these times of Transformation that Mr. President is taking hard decisions to redirect the affairs of the nation, we believe this venture of going round to show Nigerians what is happening is a very laudable one.
“This of course will serve to rekindle hope amongst Nigerians and increase faith in Government leadership”, Air Vice Marshal Zannah said.
Vice Admiral S.O Ojediran in his presentation to the NGGTour Team said the NDA was established on 5th February 1964 in response to the defence needs of independent Nigeria to train officers for the Armed Forces.
He informed that “Before independence, the NDA was known as the Royal Military Forces Training College (RMFTC).
“After independence in 1960, the RMFTC became known as the Nigerian Military Training College”.
Briefing further, Vice Admiral Ojediran told the Team that the role of the NDA is to provide each cadet with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to meet the requirements of a military officer through military, academic and character development.
He said NDA is an institution where selected young able-bodied men and women are groomed into well educated, courageous, virile and erudite subalterns.
According to him, since inception, the Academy has graduated 18,339 officers including 470 officers from 10 sister African countries.
“Currently, there are Cadets from Liberia, Togo, Benin and Central African Republic undergoing training at NDA”, Ojediran added.
Click here to view more Pictures
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate