By Ogochukwu Isioma
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Monday said his administration would leave no stone unturned to give the state a legacy of desirable learning environment in its tertiary institutions.
The governor stated this while speaking with newsmen shortly after inspecting the Faculty of Agriculture buildings, lecture theatres and Halls of Residence at Dennis Osadebey University, Asaba.
He noted that his administration had done so much in upgrading facilities in the three new universities since they were established by the state government over a year ago.
Okowa explained that the upgrade of facilities in the institutions was in line with his administration’s commitment to the development of education in the state, especially by bridging the hitherto admission gap for students of the state.
“We have inspected the Agriculture faculty and the auditoriums at the Dennis Osadebey University, Asaba. The 500-seater and the twin 250-seater auditoriums are having a great work done.
“We have been informed that by the end of April, the contractor would be off site, along with the furnishing; so we hope that we should be able to inaugurate the project in May, this year.
“We found there that they are already painting and soon the furnishings will begin. We also inspected the hostels in the university; the external work is being done, and from what I was told, the hostel is about 95 per cent completed.
“There are lots of projects going on within the Dennis Osadebay University and I think it’s beginning to wear the look of a university now.
“The only one that is slow is one of the faculty buildings that we just saw along the road now and we have asked that the project be determined, so that another contractor can take it over.
“Within the last one year that we started putting up the infrastructure in the university, I think we have done something almost magical,” he said.
The governor remarked that Dennis Osadebay University was in a more critical state due to the dearth of infrastructure on the campus, and assured that his administration would do everything possible to change the narrative.
“If you truly look through the Dennis Osadebay University, you will see that it was in more critical need of new projects because what was on ground was not just sufficient.
“That was why they have less courses accredited than the University of Science and Technology, Ozoro; and University of Delta, Agbor. This is because those ones have more facilities on ground.
“But as to whether we are achieving what we intended, yes we are. The universities have gone through their first academic session and the second one has also started.
“The purpose was to bridge the gap of the number of students who usually don’t find a space at the end of the year in our university. First year, I am told that they have admitted no fewer than 650 students.
“The University of Agbor had 2000 and that of Ozoro is 1,800. And, I am sure that this second set will likely have the same number and in another two to three years, they would have upscaled the numbers,” he added.
Okowa, who also inspected ongoing work at the International Conference Centre, Asaba, said on completion the project would provide conferencing facilities for the state.
“I am glad with what I see here at the international conference center. This is my first time to be here, I just drive pass all the while and because it is walled, you can’t anticipate the level of work here within a short while that the project started.
“I believe that the next administration will complete the project because it is a worthy project. We started this because what we normally call event center, is doubling as conference centre.
“What we have at Dome is only good enough as event centre as it is called. But here is actually built to provide facility for a conference centre.
“What we have here is a 1,500-seater auditorium; we have another one that can take 1,000 people; I am told that we have 11 conference rooms of various capacities.
“That’s how a conference centre can truly run and I am sure that the next administration will complete it; more so, when it is a friendly administration,” he stated.
