Fayemi’s Investment in Education, Catalyst for Research, Innovation, Scholarship, Says NANS

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has described the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi’s investment in education in the state as a catalyst for improved innovation, research and scholarship in the sector.

NANS maintained that the feat, if sustained by subsequent governments, could veritably serve as a good model for other states of the federation to follow.

Of particular reference, the students’ body said the governor’s huge investment in infrastructure facelift in tertiary institutions owned by the state worth being replicated in all the states of the federation for radical development.

This was the position of the South-west NANS/Joint Campus Committee Chairmen after a facility tour of all state-owned institutions; the four newly built Model Secondary Schools, and the Ekiti Knowledge Zone, to appraise the level of investment in the state education sector.

A statement issued in Ado Ekiti yesterday by Ekiti State NANS/JCC Chairman, Olarewaju Olamide, described the tour as part of the renewed efforts of NANS to advocate for improved investment in educational infrastructures across the South-west region for improved research, scholarship, innovation, and quality education.

Olamide said: “The team conducted an independent tour of all the tertiary institutions in Ekiti State, the Knowledge Zone, the newly built state polytechnic at Isan Ekiti, and the four newly built Model Colleges across the state. The team was joined during the visit by the NANS National President, Sunday Asefon, who is a postgraduate student of the Ekiti State University.

“The JCC chairmen across the states in the Southwest commended Fayemi for the quality of work done in all the sites visited during the tour. The team was particularly impressed by the level of investment at the Ekiti Knowledge Zone, the Model Colleges, and the state polytechnic.”

Also applauding the governor, the Osun State NANS/JCC Chairman, Oyelayo Oyewole, said the governor’s foresight, taste for quality infrastructures, and his peculiar bias for quality education in the state are demonstrated by the investment in all the projects visited.

Oyewole reiterated that “education is the bedrock and the greatest resource of the Ekiti people, and Ekiti State is currently governed by a man who understands and appreciates the value of education. We are not surprised that the governor has performed excellently well in the last three years in the education sector.

“The governor, being an academic, is an added advantage to the state in its quest to maintain its position as the knowledge capital of the country. He said the various projects inspected exhume excellence which is a clear testament to the quality of leadership in the state at the moment.”

In his NANS National President, Asefon, praised the initiative of the JCC chairmen for embarking on an independent assessment of infrastructures and facilities in the education sector in the state.

Asefon said: “The NANS will replicate the effort at the national level to ensure that adequate investments in facilities and infrastructures are encouraged across the country for scholarship and research.”