Judex Okoro, Calabar
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Cross River chapter has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to assent the bill to establish a Federal University of Technology in Ogoja when it is resent to him.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ahmed Lawan, now Senate Peesident and was submitted to President Buhari on May 28, 2019, after passing through both Houses.
Making the appeal durin a press briefing in Calabar on Saturday in Calabar, the president of the association, Abang Confidence. said it was quite regrettable that the bill was not assented to and so it expired after exceeding the statutory three months.
He said the bill was important because Ogoja is the only town in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria that is 324km away from its state capital.
He added that most fundamentally was the fact that the university would be an entrepreneurship and ICT-based institution which would have enhanced the field of industrialisation.
According to him, any student from Ogoja desiring to attend a federal university must travel above 300km to access tertiary education.
“The closest Federal University is above 100km from Ogoja, for instance, Wukari is 192km from Ogoja, Nsukka is 256km from Ogoja and if the student desires a University of Agriculture in Makurdi then he would travel for 209km.
“This bill was submitted to the president but it never saw the light of day; this was so because after three months, a bill before the president for assent expires”, he said.
He called on all politicians from the state at the federal level to come together irrespective of their political affiliations and ensure that this laudable project was successfully established in the state.He commended the member representing the Ogoja/Yala federal constituency, Hon. Jarigbe Agom, for deeming it necessary to seek the establishment of a Federal University of Technology in Ogoja, calling on all stakeholders from the state to rally round and ensure that this laudable project was successfully established in the state.