(SINL NIGERIA) A bill to amend the Federal Colleges of Education Act to establish Federal College of Education Igbekebo, Ondo State on Thursday passed second reading in the Senate.
The bill sponsored by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo South) was read for the first time on 12th October, 2023.
In a lead debate at the plenary on Thursday, Senator Ibrahim argued that the existence of a sound and robust educational system in any country is predicated on the availability of qualified and well trained teachers to impact the required knowledge on the students.
Consequently, he said “the need to have a strong system in our educational sector that shall continuously produce well qualified and trained teachers as it is obtainable in other developed countries cannot be overemphasized”.
Justifying the bill, the Ondo senator added that “the realization that Colleges of Education are tools for national development, have led to an unbridled quest for, and vigorous expansion of Colleges of Education in Nigeria”.
Specifically, he noted that the objects of the College as outlined in the bill among others include,
to encourage the advancement of learning to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction; to develop and offer academic and professional programmes leading to the award of certificates, first degrees, post-graduate research, diploma and higher degrees with emphasis on planning, developmental and adaptive skills in Education, technology, applied science, agriculture, commerce, arts, social science, humanities, management and allied professional disciplines.
Others according to Senator Ibrahim is to produce socially mature Educational men and women with capabilities not to only understand Educational need of Nigeria as a nation, but also to exploit existing Educational infrastructure and improve on it to develop new ones; to act as agents and catalysts for effective Educational system, through post graduate training, research and innovation, for effective economic utilization and conservation of the country’s human resources; and
to identify Educational needs of the society with a view to finding solutions to them within the context of overall national development.
Indeed, the lawmaker emphasised that the enactment of the bill “will help in transforming the decayed educational infrastructures in Nigeria. It is my prayer and ardent call on you to consider the plight of the people who are desirous to becoming professional teachers”.
