Borno to get own federal polytechnic after 45 years | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
18th January 2021
Borneo State would soon play host to a federal university.
This is according to Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Mr Adamu Adamu during a visit by Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum on Monday.
Zulum paid a ‘thank you visit’ to the minister following President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval for the establishment of a federal polytechnic in Monguno.
Monguno is the most populated town in northern Borno, where education had been largely regressed due to the insecurity situation in Nigeria’s northeast.
Until Buhari’s approval, Borno had for 45 years, since its creation in 1976, remained one of the few states which neither had a federal polytechnic nor a federal college of education.
The Ramat polytechnic in Maiduguri is owned and funded by the state government while several efforts and appeals by successive administrations in Borno, for the federal government to takeover the Ramat polytechnic were not successful.
Similarly, existing colleges of education in Maiduguri and Biu are owned by the state government even as appeals for establishment of a federal college of education in Borno, also did not materialize.
The University of Maiduguri and the Nigerian Army University, Biu are the only federal tertiary institution sited in Borno.
Each of the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory have at least one federal university but same cannot be said of other categories of tertiary institutions.
Determined to claim Borno’s entitlement, Governor Zulum, a University professor and former rector of Ramat Polytechnic, launched an aggressive lobbying of the federal government towards the establishment of both a federal polytechnic and a federal college of education in Borno state, arguing on basis as of fairness and making reference to the havoc inflicted by Boko Haram on education across the state.
Northern Borno in which a federal polytechnic will now be sited, is rated the most educationally backward in Borno State.
The governor eulogized President Buhari for approving the new Polytechnic while he was full gratitude to the minister of education, Malam Adamu Adamu for his recommending the approval and for his compassion towards Borno.
Zulum was accompanied to the minister’s office by the chief whip of the House of Representatives who is representing Monguno, Marte, and Nganzai Federal Constituency of Borno state, Barister Mohammed Tahir Monguno, the governor’s chief of staff, Professor Isa Hussaini Marte, and some commissioners.