The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Friday said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was committed to bridging infrastructural gaps in tertiary institutions and boosting investments in the education sector.
Fashola, represented by the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Umar Bakare, said this at the handover ceremony of newly constructed/rehabilitated car parks and internal roads to Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) in Lagos.
The project was part of the Federal Government’s Intervention of Internal Roads for tertiary institutions in the nation.
The minister said the project being handed over comprised car parks and internal roads rehabilitated/reconstructed by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on behalf of the Federal Government.
He said the Buhari government was leading the process of development in the nation by bridging infrastructure gap across Nigeria and in the tertiary institutions.
Fashola said that government had intervened on 83 roads in tertiary institutions across the nation.
“The gap of our infrastructure needs is steadily being bridged by a gradual process of repairs, renewal and construction on major highways and it has reached the schools.
“It is undebatable that quality of education will be impacted by the quality of infrastructure and the learning environment and those who doubt it should simply listen to some of the feedback from students in the schools where this type of intervention has taken place.
“We have successfully intervened in 64 internal road projects in various federal tertiary institutions and handed over a total of 46 as at March, 2022 and we now have another 18 ready to be handed over, while we are currently attending to 19 roads in similar institutions across the country, making a total of 83,” he said.
Fashola said academic activities had received a boost in YABATECH, with some defective roads repaired.
He said that the hand over of the project was the Buhari administration’s progressive intervention to support education.
“And the point must be made that although this is a civil works project, it is an investment in education,” the minister said.
He said the project also impacted livelihoods in the area as it created over 40 direct or indirect jobs, urging the school to take care of the asset properly and not abuse it.
YABATECH Rector, Mr Obafemi Omokungbe, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the minister for the project.
He said that the institution had benefited three times from the government’s intervention in the last five years.
Omokungbe said students were happy and now attended lectures more regularly because the new rehabilitation/reconstruction was ensuring easy movement within the institution.
He appealed to the minister to also remember to fulfil his promise of construction of a two kilometers road in the institution’s new campus in Epe area of Lagos State.
Earlier, Bakare, speaking in his official capacity as the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, had promised to visit the new campus, “do a proposal and forward to Abuja”.
The First Vice Chairman, of the Students Union Government, Mr Adenle Oluwatosin, said the project had tackled the problem of flooding within the institution that affected movement and discouraged lecture attendance.
Oluwatosin thanked the government and promised that the students would maintain, protect and keep the infrastructure clean.
Earlier, Federal Ministry of Works Assistant Director, Federal Highways, Mrs Olukorede Keisha, while making her opening remark thanked the school management for its collaboration with the government towards actualisation of the project.
She also thanked President Buhari for timely response to needs of YABATECH.
