In a statement signed by Deputy Director Press and Public Relations, Ben Goong, the Minister gave the charge in Abuja while receiving a delegation of the Governing Council of the Federal College of Education, Okene, Kogi State, who paid him a working visit.
He said that this was paramount as government cannot afford to cater for the increasing demands of the nation’s educational institutions, in the face of other demands on its dwindling resources.
The Minister noted that government was aware of the numerous challenges confronting educational institutions in the country and was doing all it can within its limited resources, to surmount them.
Mallam Adamu emphasised that creating more avenues for internally generated revenue will make the institutions more independent, innovative and enterprising.
He opined that these attributes were needed of the institutions since the current focus of the nation’s curriculum was making students more self-reliant.
Adamu stated that the Federal Government is keen on changing the plight of teachers through the evolvement of more enabling policies, provision of conducive working and learning environments as well as lucrative renumeration.
According to him, “the teaching profession in the country needs to be re-engineered and managed in accordance with international accepted practices and standards.”
The Minister noted that the plan of the present administration is to make the teaching profession more noble and admirable.
In his remarks, Alhaji Saad Abdullahi, Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal College of Education, Okene said that the aim of the visit is to inform the Minister on the numerous challenges of the institution.
He said that the institution was fast deteriorating, structurally and financially and appealed to the Federal Government for assistance in order to install a conducive learning environment.
He noted that the Governing Council was not unaware of the hard-economic situation the country is currently experiencing but the College still needs the attention of the Federal Government as its IGR cannot cater for its pressing needs.
Saad lamented that the commercial ventures set by the college to complement her Internally Generated Revenue is now comatose due to “several hindering socio-economic factors.”
According to Saad, amongst others, the institution battles with the payment of staff’s salary and promotion arrears, in addition to infrastructural deficit.
He enumerated some of the challenging areas as payment of outsourced cleaning and security services, electricity bills, accreditation expenses, Governing Council’s expenses and other financial commitments of the college.
Speaking, Dr. Umar Farouk, called on government to also provide “an urgent intervention to enable our institution ward off the festering tension over unpaid allowances in order to sustain the peace and industrial harmony which have so far, facilitated uninterrupted academic activities.”
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