Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State has reiterated that his administration’s plan for the proposed upgrade of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto to a full-fledged university is to encourage students to be able to stand on their own after the completion of their studies.
Gov. Tambuwal stated this on Monday , when he received an interim report of a committee set up by the state government for the purpose of enhancing the capacity of the present College of Education to that of a university.
According to him, considering that the proposed university is envisaged to be one of the most important institutions in Nigeria, the emphasis on its promoting not only education, but education with employeability cannot be over-emphasized.
He said the focus on entrepreneurship development is deliberate in the face of dearth of white collar jobs for graduates. “So,” he reasoned, “students should be able upon graduation from the university not only to educate others but also employ themselves and others in a gainful enterprise run by them.”
He assured the committee that the executive arm of government wil look at its recommendations and make sure that they are judiciously implemented.
Expressing appreciation to the committee for doing a thorough job and the fact that the existing institution has met most of the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) requirements to be a university, Gov. Tambuwal said his administration will do whatever needs to be done and immediately apply to the NUC for the upgrade.
In his remarks, the chairman of the committee, Prof. Zayyanu Umar said the 19 member committee which swung into action after its inauguration on January 21, 2021 conducted its assignment with modesty, high sense of responsibility, integrity and commitment to the course of the education sector in the state.
He explained the methodology of the committee as including meetings, engagement of stakeholders and visits to the NUC as well as Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu Ode, Ogun state, the first university of education in the country.
He said all these provided the committee with an insight on the need for graduates of the planned varsity to acquire skills that would make them self employed after their graduation.
For this purpose, he explained the committee has recommended some courses not currently offered in either Usmanu Danfodiyo University or Sokoto State University to be taught in the proposed university in order to enable the state government build capacity of the youths and mitigate the problem of unemployment in the country.
According to him, with the facilities currently available at the College targeted for upgrade, SSCOE, staffing profile and NUC-standard compliance, academic activities should commence in the 2021/2022 academic session.
