By Praise Chinecherem
Federal government on Saturday commissioned two hostels at the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State.
The male and female hostels, valued at N550,000,000.00 is sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) of its 2020 Special Intervention.
Inuguarating the facilities, Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum, Downstream and member, Senate Committee on Education and TETFund, Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah reiterated National Assembly’s willingness to continue working harmoniously with the Executive towards making nation’s educational institutions globally competitive for economic and technological development.
Ubah, representing Anambra South Senatorial district in the National Assembly, also assured that the Senate would continue to provide necessary support to the Fund through enactment of legislations that would further advance tertiary education in Nigeria.
He said, “I wish to use this opportunity to assure you that the 10th Senate under the leadership of the Senate President, Distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio and indeed, the entire National Assembly will continue to provide necessary support to the Fund through the enactment of legislations that would further advance tertiary education in Nigeria.
“Aside support for physical infrastructure and provision of equipment at the institution, TETFund has also sponsored 101 lecturers for Ph.D from the Polytechnic in both foreign and local institutions totaling N487,527,656.10.
“TETFund has also sponsored 60 lecturers for Masters Degrees in both foreign and local institutions totalling N293,102,460.00, while 90 staff have been sponsored for Conference Attendance locally and abroad at a total cost of N111,471,159.50.”
The lawmaker urged the Polytechnic to take full advantage of the facilities and make good use of them for the educational and vocational development of the students.
Executive Secretary, TETfund, Arc. Sonny Echono said the projects executed between 2021 and 2023 would go a long way to stem the tide of negative influences on students youth population and address security concerns in the Polytechnic community.
Echeno, represented by Director, Monitoring and Evaluation Department, Arc Babatunde Olajide said the projects were thoughtfully prioritised by the Polytechnic to address the aforementioned concerns as well as provide requisite infrastructure for the students wellbeing.
“In line with the “Renewed Hope” agenda of President Bola Tinubu administration, the Fund is committed to ensuring the sustenance of funding to all public beneficiary institutions with a view to ensuring our institutions attain high global ranking in delivery of academic content,” he said.
While commending the Polytechnic management and project team for ensuring quality delivery and sticking to terms, Echono appealed that the facilities be put to their proper use and maintained to serve generations to come.
Earlier, Rector of the Polytechnic, Engr. Dr. Francisca Nwafulugo described the hostels’ commissioning as giant step in the institution’s quest to accommodate more of its students within the polytechnic towards enhancing their security and well-being.
“These hostel buildings made up of 26 rooms each with the capacity of accommodating 208 students altogether are equipped with modern facilities which are tailored to give our students a decent and conducive accommodation space to achieve peak performance academically.
“In addition to these hostels, we also have the School of Environmental Design and Technology Building which is a capital funded project as part of what will be commissioned today,” she added.
Appreciating Tetfund for making it possible for increased number of students to have a safe and decent accommodation within the Polytechnic, the Rector said Tetfund had added value to the polytechnic in so many ways and areas.
Prior to this new hostel buildings, we had two existing hostel buildings within the campus that accommodate few female students only.
“With this new hostels being commissioned today, our male students will have opportunity for the first time to enjoy the feeling of being accommodated in a hostel that is within the polytechnic.
“What this tells is that there is serious insufficient hostel accommodation within the Polytechnic premises.
“This is really a big challenge and I would like to seize this opportunity to call on well-meaning Nigerians to partner with Federal Polytechnic Oko by erecting students hostel within the polytechnic premises.”
