From Marcel Alozie, Enugu
Enugu State governor, Dr Peter Mbah, has promised to upgrade Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo to a university of Agriculture within two years.
Governor Mbah who was represented by the state Commissioner for Education, Prof Ndubueze Mbah, stated this during the Education Summit organized by the Polytechnic at the weekend.
Sun Newspapers reports that he stated that the government of Enugu State has made education a priority sector of its investment for sustainable development by earmarking 33 per cent of the state budget to education, which is far above the recommended 15 to 20 per cent by international agencies like UNICEF, World Bank etc.
“The reason behind this bold and historic step is the shared aspirations of a people and government to the realization of a food-secured state. Therefore, the idea to elevate ESPOLY to Enugu State University of Agriculture will take us out as a people of cycles of underdevelopment and poverty,” he said.
In his address, the Rector of Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo Rev. Fr. (Dr) Nnamdi Nwankwo, praised Governor Mba for initiating the Green Smart School Concept and enjoined all school administrators to borrow a leaf from the idea to make schools in the state move towards the right direction.
“As for us, our goal is to develop a tertiary institution that will be ready to absorb the Smart School students that will hit the system in the near future,” he said.
Fr Nwankwo highlighted the numerous challenges faced by the polytechnic to include: fencing of the polytechnic permanent site; construction of 200 rooms capacity hostels; construction of 1,000 sitting capacity auditorium; ICT block, entrepreneurship centre etc.
He, therefore, called on all and sundry to join hands to make ESPOLY great as it should be partnering with the institution in providing any of the listed needs of school.
Meanwhile, the Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial district, Osita Ngwu, who was represented by Prof Ikechukwu Orji, thanked the management team of the polytechnic for their efforts in repositioning the school and promised to do everything within his powers to support the school.
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