He stated this yesterday in Lagos during his impact assessment tour of Federal Government-owned institutions in Nigeria.
According to him, the tour became necessary as part of efforts to gain first hand information on the challenges facing individual campuses and the progress made by them, because pictures and documents forwarded to his office could be deceptive.
The minister stressed that his mandate upon his appointment as the ministry’s substantive minister in July was to ensure the stability of the sector, and that the resolution of the then prolonged ASUP/COEASU strike less than 24 hours after he resumed office was a clear pointer to his commitment to fulfil that mandate.
He added that part of the measures to nip strikes in the bud was his commitment to ensure the dignity of teaching service in Nigeria through adequate welfare packages, training and retraining of teachers at all levels, provision of conducive teaching and learning environment, among others.He said these are targeted towards achieving the two fundamental objectives of the transformation agenda.
of President Goodluck Jonathan in the education sector, which he listed as increasing access and improving qualities.
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The Minister, whose first point of call was the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka, inspected series of projects including the ongoing Jubilee Arcade located beside the waterfront. He also revealed that the major challenges facing the education system has been the non-implementation of the several white paper proposals submitted to successive government administrations by many visitation panels to many of the institutions.
The university of Lagos Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rahman Bello, said the university has been at the mercy of the internally-generated revenues, support from philanthropists and contributions from the alumni members, saying out of about N400 million needed for monthly overhead cost, the university receives only N11.3 million. “In fact, the 2015 budget has further reduced it to about N10 million.”
At the Federal College of Education, Technical, Akoka, the Minister pledged to resolve the perennial land tussle between the college and UNILAG, saying it was a family affair that would be addressed in due course.
At the college, Shekarau commissioned two major projects of the link bridge to the disputed land funded by the Africa Development Bank, and the TETfund three-storey lecture theatre. He commended the college management for what he described as the decorum and discipline associated with education schools.
“As a teacher who is proud of this job, I appreciate the system here and I hope others can cultivate this,” Shekarau said.
Also at the Yaba College of Technology, where the Chairman of the institution’s Governing Council, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, commended the Minister for restoring hope the education system especially with his prompt resolution of the ASUP/COASU strike.
Shekarau applauded the authority and promised to resolve all the contradictions facing the sector. (Leadership)
