The Federal Government has
threatened to relocate the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), and
other government institutions experiencing crisis of land encroachment to other
states.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal
Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono, said this in Abuja on Thursday when the
Governing Council of FUTO visited him in the ministry.
Echono expressed worry on the
spate of land encroachment in many government owned institutions located at the
various states in the country, NAN reports.
He said that it was time the
ministry began to advise the Federal Government on possible relocation of those
institutions to prevent crisis.
According to him, “the issue of
land encroachment of FUTO is a serious matter for us here at the ministry.
“I want to state for the benefit
of the public that we are getting to a position where the sector is going to
advise the government on possible relocation of federal facilities in
communities that continued to be hostile.
“This is not limited to FUTO,
there are a number of institutions, even our Federal Government Colleges, where
government acquired land and paid full compensation for some of these schools.
“For those that are located at
the outskirt and as development catches with the school, people now imagine
that land left for future expansion and growth should be carved out and used
for residential building, and that is what put a lot of pressure on these
facilities.
“Sometimes, the state government
officials and traditional institutions are accomplices in these acts of selling
land that belongs to federal institutions.
“We are at the point where we
will begin to recommend that we relocate such facilities and return them to
states that are willing to accept them,” he said.
Echono also promised to
immediately look into the fencing of the institutions.
On the erosion challenge of FUTO,
the permanent secretary said the ministry would work closely with the
Ecological Fund Office to assist in proffering solutions to the problems.
Earlier, the Pro-Chancellor and
Chairman, Governing Board, FUTO, Prof. John Offem, said that successive FUTO
administrations had confronted the challenge of encroachment without much
success, while calling on the ministry to intervene.
Offem said that the most meagre
resources expended by the current management of the institution to construct
about 5,000 metres of perimeter fence was completely destroyed by some
misinformed youths from the host community.
The Pro-Chancellor also called
for the intervention of the ministry to restore some delisted academic
programmes of the school of management and management technology by the
National Universities Commission (NUC).
”For three consecutive academic
sessions, FUTO has been denied admission of fresh students to programmes
namely: Maritime Management Technology, Project Management Technology and
Transport Management Technology.
“Financial Management Technology
and Management Technology, on the premise that these programmes were not
included in the mandate of the university.
“The delisting if not reversed
will lead to dearth of highly skilled manpower in these fields for our
fledgling industries,” he said.
Offem also explained the
purported resignation of the Chancellor of the university, Alhaji Muhammadu
Barkindo, the Lamido of Adamawa was still not clear and we had lost contact
with him.
“We have written and sent
emissaries without any positive result; We heard through the grapevine that the
chancellor had resigned his appointment but there has not been any official
confirmation in this regard.
“The university is unaware of
this development and therefore, seek the intervention of the ministry to ensure
that FUTO is not denied the royal fatherly role of chancellors in the
university affairs,” he said.
He, therefore, appealed for more
support in some critical projects necessary for the status of a technological
university.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that FUTO which was established in 1980 was recently elected as Africa
Centre of Excellence in Future Energies and Electrochemical Systems with
project value of 6million dollars.
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