By Haruna Salami
A Bill to establish Federal University of Education Okene, Kogi state passed second reading at the Senate on Tuesday.
The Bill which was sponsored by Senator Yakubu Oseni (Kogi Central) was read the first time in the Senate chamber on Tuesday February 22, 2022.
Leading the debate in the Bill, Senator Oseni underscored the importance of human capital development through education for national development.
“For any country to achieve meaningful development, the socio-economic and political system must be enhanced. This is why successive Nigerian governments placed much emphases on the development of the individual as a means to national development.
According to him, “education is the sure means of developing individual potentials. Little wonder, therefore, 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.”
He said among the various educational institutions through which the nation hopes to achieve its developmental goals, specialized Universities of Education should take pre-eminence because they are set up to train the trainers.
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 impact the required knowledge on the students.
Thus, the need to have a strong system in our educational sector that shall continuously produce well qualified and trained teachers as is obtainable in other countries cannot be overemphasized. This is the fundamental justification for the establishment of this specialized institution of higher learning: the Federal University of Education, Okene.
“Undoubtedly, the realization that Universities of Education are tools for national development have led to an unbridled quest for, and vigorous expansion of such institutions in Nigeria.
Broadly, a University of Education’s main functions, among others are:
The objectives of the University as outlined in the Bill among others include “to encourage the advancement of learning to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction.
“To develop and offer academic and professional programmes leading to the award of certificates, diplomas, first and higher degrees and post graduate 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 mature 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 post graduate training, research and innovation, for effective economic utilization and developing the country’s human resources and to bring quality change in the education sector by focusing on teacher Education through teaching and learning innovations.
Senator Oseni said 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, adding that it will also provide a balanced educational development in Kogi State.
