The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has stepped up work towards transforming all sectors of the country’s economy.
Fashola said this informed the federal government intervention in the rehabilitation of roads in tertiary institutions aimed at bridging the infrastructure gap in the country.
According to the Minister, no fewer than 19 internal road projects in different tertiary institutions across the country have been completed by the federal government while 24 others are still ongoing.
Fashola stated this at Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, while handing over a 1.33km of roads rehabilitated and constructed by the federal government under the programme.
Represented by the Federal Controller of Roads in Ekiti State, Mr. Ishiaq Lawal, the Minister noted that the rehabilitation and construction of internal roads in tertiary institutions were targeted at making learning less stressful.
He said the students are also expressing enthusiasm, with regards to attending classes, “Because some defective roads in their institutions have been made motorable”.
“It is undebatable that quality education will be impacted by the quality of infrastructure and the learning environment and those who doubt it should simply listen to some of the feedback from students in the schools where this type of intervention has taken.
“There is no doubt that the gap of our infrastructure needs is steadily been bridged by gradual process of repairs renewal and construction on the highway and it has reached the schools.
“Currently there are 43 such interventions in internal roads within tertiary institutions across Nigeria, and the students are expressing their new enthusiasm with regards to attend the classes because of defective routes have been made motorable”, he said.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, in his remarks, lauded the initiative of the federal government, describing the project as a relief to the university community.
Soremekun said projects would not only improve on the learning process of the students but also impacted on the ambience of the university, assuring the project would be maintained to serve the desired purposes.
He said the university needed more of such interventions in the area of infrastructures to further enhance the academic profile of the university in order to adequately compete with its contemporaries globally.
