The Niger State University of Education has bounced back almost 8 years after its establishment was put off by the former governor of the state, Abubakar Sani Bello, on assumption of office in 2015.
Blueprint learnt that the PDP administration of former Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu had upgraded and converted the College of Education Minna otherwise known as (COE MINNA) to a University of Education around 2013 before handing over to his predecessor of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, despite the provision of infrastructure and provisional approval by the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the take off of the university, the immediate past administration didn’t see the viability of the project, leading to its termination.
It was gathered that, apparently, the new administration of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has seen more potentials in utilising the University of Education to provide viable and efficient manpower to revive the state’s education sector.
Governor Bago, therefore, went back to NUC for the reactivation and approval of the process that started over a decade ago but was abandoned. The approval letter was formally presented to the governor by the Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr Chris Mayaki at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
While expressing delight at the approval for the university, Governor Bago said , “we have observed that there is a deficit in educational facilities in Niger state, this administration is desirous of making Niger state the ‘Massachusetts’ of Nigeria.”
He assured that funding the university will not be a problem as an Education Trust Fund law is already in place mandating 1% of every state government contract to go into the Trust Fund.
The Acting Executive Secretary congratulated the Niger state government under the leadership of Governor Umaru Bago for revalidating and completing the process of establishing the State University of Education.
