The Kogi Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Wemi Jones, says Gov. Yahaya Bello’s administration is committed to investment in education sector.
John gave the assurance in an interview in Lokoja on Monday.
Jones, who spoke on the increase in 2022 budget allocation to education sector from 20 to 30 per cent, commended the governor for the gesture.
He described the gesture as ”a massive investment”.
Jones noted it would be the first time that Kogi would have a governor who was genuinely interested in building the future of the state, especially in the area of education.
He said that the governor’s massive investment in education sector had resulted into the corresponding growth in students’ population across Kogi.
He applauded the governor for ensuring that the new Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH) Osara, went from concept to confirmation to construction and to curriculum activities under one year.
Jones said that the university was designed and built to provide first-grade training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines for youths.
He explained that the governor’s plans for the institutions in 2022 Budget would greatly move it forward toward ensuring that it would be comparable with any similar school anywhere on the globe by leveraging on ICT and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
”What the governor is doing in Kogi is an investment and an enduring legacy that would outlive him, which the people would continue to talk about.
”I doubt if there is any state in Nigeria that has devoted as much as 20 per cent to education sector but GYB said that 20 per cent is even too small and moving it to 30 per cent.
”I think the governor deserves the commendation of everybody because he is not looking at today but far into the future,” Jones said.
He noted that the state was already experiencing the effects of GYB intervention in the education sector.
According to Jones, in 2019, Kogi State recorded 52 per cent pass in WAEC examination and was rated 28th out of the 36 States of the Federation including FCT.
He noted that because of the governor’s ingenuity and intuition, coupled with his massive investment in education, the state scored 67.2 per cent in WAEC in 2020 and moved from 28th to 14th position out of the 36 states and Abuja.
”We want to build and train youths that would be self-employed and entrepreneurs, using Technology Vocational Training (TVT), for them to be able to occupy themselves and subsequently occupy other people.
”The governor has provided a template for everybody to benefit and urged the people to key into it as opportunity like this do not happen all the time,” Jones said.
He urged advised the people of Kogi State to take advantage of the opportunities now available.
Edo hospital records zero maternal mortality in 2 yrs.
GYB, had on Thursday presented a budget of N145.89 billion to the State House of Assembly.
According to the governor, the 2022 Budget, tagged: “Budget of Accelerated Result,” was designed to achieve important macroeconomic goals while ensuring effective delivery of good governance.
