By George Mgbeleke<\/p>\n
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has emphasised the need for greater investment in human capital development.<\/p>\n
Akpabio made the call on Monday in Abuja during a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, chaired by Sen. Muntari Dandutse.<\/p>\n
Recall that the hearing was on six bills namely; Federal University of Education (Special), Oyo (Establishment) Bill, 2024;
\nFederal University of Health Sciences, Funtua, Katsina State (Establishment) Bill, 2024.<\/p>\n
“Federal University of Technology, Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State (Establishment) Bill, 2024; Federal University of Geomatics, Oyo, Oyo State (Establishment) Bill, 2025.<\/p>\n
“Federal University of Technology and Vocational Studies, Yaba, Lagos State (Establishment) Bill, 2025 and
\nFederal University of Technology, Omoku, Rivers State (Amendment) Bill, 2025”.<\/p>\n
Akpabio who was represented by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau said Nigeria was at a pivotal point in its development journey and such more investments were needed in the sector.<\/p>\n
“Our population continues to grow, and so must our investments in human capital,” he said.<\/p>\n
He said that the universities of technology, health sciences, education, and vocational studies were instrumental in preparing a workforce that was capable of driving innovation and delivering essential services.<\/p>\n
“And transforming the nation\u2019s economic fortunes.<\/p>\n
“The inclusion of specialised institutions like the proposed University of Education (Special), Oyo and the University of Geomatics highlights our intention to cater to specific educational and developmental needs”.<\/p>\n
Akpabio added that the task before the Senate was to ensure that these institutions, once established, are not only sustainable but also adequately funded.<\/p>\n
“And also effectively governed, and tailored to meet the dynamic needs of the 21st-century learner”.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Muntari Dandutse (APC-Katsina), sponsored the Federal University of Health Sciences, Funtua, Katsina State (Establishment) Bill, 2024.<\/p>\n
Dandutse said that it was instructive to note that the conventional or mainstream medical practice was gradually being passed out with the advancement in science and technology.<\/p>\n
“And also, the advent of Artificial Intelligence and the use of robotics are predominantly being deployed to handle sophisticated medical practices and procedures limiting the chances of medical practitioners.<\/p>\n
“This is no doubt will invariably give rise to job losses in the near future”.<\/p>\n
He said that it was imperative that urgent and necessary steps were taken for Nigeria to align with this current global phenomena”.<\/p>\n
Sen. Yunus Akintunde (APC-Oyo) sponsored the Federal University of Education (Special), Oyo Establishment Bill 2024 and Federal University of Geomatics, Oyo Establishment Bill 2024.<\/p>\n
He said that the proposed establishment of the two universities constituted upgrades rather than establishments from the scratch.<\/p>\n
Akintunde said that the Federal University of Education (Special), Oyo aims to provide a just, sound and robust educational system for all Nigerians, including those with disabilities.<\/p>\n
“It is predicated on the availability of qualified and well-trained teachers to impart the required knowledge on the students.<\/p>\n
“Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo is the only one of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n
“Thus, the need to have a university in our educational sector that can cater for people with disabilities and continuously produce well-qualified and trained teachers as it is obtainable in other developed countries cannot be over emphasised”.<\/p>\n
He added that there was an unbridled quest for special need education in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
“The current administration in Nigeria has shown sufficient determination to submit adequate funds to critical sectors in nation building including education.<\/p>\n
“The enactment of this bill will help not only to provide education access, but also reduce difficulties faced by people with disabilities in seeking university education in non-conducive conventional institutions”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has emphasised the need for greater investment in human capital development. Akpabio made the call on Monday in Abuja during a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, chaired by Sen. Muntari Dandutse. Recall that the hearing was on six bills […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3354,1254,160,3355,3356,71,3353],"class_list":["post-5176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-capital","tag-determination","tag-development","tag-disabilities","tag-enactment","tag-investment","tag-uman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5177,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5176\/revisions\/5177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}