Senior Education Specialist, World Bank, Abuja, Dr. Tunde Adekola, has said the World Bank has invested $180m in Science and Technology Education for Post Basic Education projects nationwide.
He made this statement on Sunday during the inauguration of N95m Fibre Optics project at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State.
He said the bank was satisfied with the management of the resources and the three criteria of assessing the funds were achieved. Adekola stated that the criteria were proof of concept, delivering of results and impact.
Stating that more than 250 institutions benefited from the fund, he explained that the beneficiaries included all federal universities, federal polytechnics, federal colleges of education, unity colleges, and federal government schools.
He noted that management of resources was essential for growth and economic advancements.
Also the Vice-Chancellor of UNILORIN, Prof. AbdulGaniyu, Ambali, said information and communication technology was a viable strategy to improving productivity and academic linkages.
He said the school had provided laptops for new students to enhance their academic development, adding that the institution had instituted paperless status in some aspects of the university’s top management.
The Project Manager, STEP-B, Prof. Felix Oladele, said the Fibre-Optics project is a subset of the UNILORIN STEP -B project. He added that the project belonged to the FGN funded by the World Bank and introduced through the ministry of education in 2008.
He noted that it was meant to boost teaching and research in science and technology so as to produce better qualified science and technology graduates, as well as to conduct higher quality and more relevant researches in the country.
According to him, for the university to achieve the goal, it deployed modern teaching and research equipment, ICT equipment and infrastructure, such as robust fibre-optics network to complement the existing WiFi and radio hotspot facilities.
