A Bill for an Act to Establish the Federal University of Education Ankpa, Kogi State and to make comprehensive provisions for its due management and administration passed second reading in Senate on Tuesday.
By Haruna Salami
A Bill for an Act to Establish the Federal University of Education Ankpa, Kogi State and to make comprehensive provisions for its due management and administration passed second reading in Senate on Tuesday.
Leading the debate on the bill which seeks to upgrade the State College of Education, Ankpa to Federal University of Education Ankpa, Senator Jibrin said the bill was read the first time on Tuesday, 18 February 2025.
Underscoring the importance of education, he said “ducation is a sure means of developing individual potentials. Little wonder that the National Policy on Education, 1981, postulates that education is the greatest investment that the nation can make for the quick development of its economic, political, sociological and human resources.
“The development of a sound and robust educational system in any country is therefore predicated on the availability of qualified and well-trained teachers to impart the required knowledge on the students. The need to have a strong system in the educational sector that shall continuously produce more qualified and trained teachers as is obtainable in other countries cannot be over-emphasized.
This is the fundamental justification for the establishment of this specialized institution of higher learning at the Federal University of Education, Ankpa, he said.
Broadly, the investment of education’s main functions, among others, are stated as follows. One, to encourage the advancement of learning to all persons without discrimination of race, creed and political conviction,
“To develop and offer academic and professional programmes leading to the award of certificates, diplomas, first and higher degrees, and postgraduate research in all fields of education with emphasis on educational planning and teaching in all subjects covering developmental and adaptive skills, technology, applied sciences, agriculture, commerce, arts, social sciences, humanities, management, and allied professional disciplines.
To produce socially matured professional educators with capabilities to not only understand educational needs of Nigeria as a nation, but also to exploit existing educational infrastructure and improve on it and develop new ones.
“To act as agents and catalysts for installing an effective educational system through postgraduate training, research and innovation for effective economic utilization and developing the country’s human resources.
“To bring quality change in the educational sector by focusing on teachers’ education through teaching and learning innovations.
It might interest you to note that this College of Education is currently affiliated to about six o universities in Nigeria currently and it is offering various degree programmes.
The enactment of this bill will go a long way in transforming the decayed educational infrastructure in Nigeria and change the educational fortunes of the country for the better. It will also provide a balanced educational development in Kogi State and the adjoining states.
Senator Diket Plang, (Plateau Central) said he was strongly supporting the bill, particularly because it is not a fresh creation, but an existing college that is already very deep into offering degree programmes and the ability to upgrade it to become a full-fledged university where educational courses can be offered, not just at an NCE or degree level only, but to deepen knowledge up to even post-graduate, masters and PhD.
“I also rise to appreciate the recent move by government in upgrading and establishment of universities of education across the country. I feel this is fit at times like this because in as much as we are looking for the establishment of universities of technology, mining university, marine university, we will not succeed if there is no technical places to develop and then improve the knowledge of teachers.
I believe that if at the end of the day, Kogi State College of Education is upgraded to a university level, it will improve quality of teachers in our country, just as it has been established in most regional areas. Nobody will ever be what he is without a teacher.
In rising to support the second reading of bill, Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) said “we are only asking for upgrading of the institution and it is a specialized university that will train teachers nationwide, not only in Kogi State.
The former governor of Kebbi State said “We know one of the problems facing the educational sector in Nigeria today is lack of trained teachers. This is responsible for the low level of education we have now. But if you have universities like this that are specialized in training teachers, it will go a long way in improving the educational standard of the country.
“Kogi State is one of the most populous states in the north central part of Nigeria and it requires more than one or two universities. When fully upgraded, it will certainly take care of teachers desiring to be trained and retrained. For that reason, I support the second leader of this bill, and I urge all my colleagues to do the same.
Senator Anthony Ani (Ebony South), a professor, commended the “superlative terms, the creativity of the sponsor of this bill. This bill is not only timely, it is apt. I want to align myself, very strongly, to the content, to the objectives of this bill.
“In particular, we need to know that the greatest investment that the nation can offer to its citizens is education. And like my colleague said, this is a specialized university of education, where teachers for primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions are being trained. Every institution requires good teachers to teach.
“This university, if assented to, it comes to help in addressing the issues of a shortage of teachers. You know, some people will do some other courses in the university and come to teach, but if you do your degree in education, you are better position
“I’m impressed by the first objective of this bill, that says that we need to be able to encourage the advancement of learning to all persons without prejudice to race, creed, sex, or political descent. University education is meant for everybody.
In a similar development another bill for an Act to Amend the Federal Universities of Technology to provide for the establishment of the Federal University of Technology, Odukpani, Cross Rivers State, second reading.
The bill was sponsored by Senator Asuqun, Ekpenyong (Cross River South).