Kogi State government has appealed to communities in the state to protect public institutions by taking ownership of the facilities and ensuring adequate security.
The State’s Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Wemi Jones, made the appeal at the palace of Onu Ochaja, Chief Yahaya Ibrahim, during an inspection tour of the newly upgraded College of Agriculture, Ochaja, Dekina Local Government Area.
The commissioner noted that Governor Yahaya Bello, had given approval for the School of Agriculture, Ochaja, to be upgraded from a Certificate awarding institution to a diploma awarding institution.
Jones noted that the essence of his visit to the college was to see at a closer range all the things needed to be put in place for commencement of academic activities.
He assured that academic activities would safely commence at the institution before the end of March 2021, using the facilities of two secondary schools in the community.
“We intend to work with the deadline given by His Excellency for academic activities to commence at the school, after we have appointed the principal officers of the institution,” he said.
Jones noted that the school being an agricultural based institution would create employments, entrepreneur skills, and take a lot of youths away from the streets and reduce the rate of criminality in the community.
Jones appealed to the monarch and the people of the community to give maximum support to the government by protecting the facilities from ruins.
He further urged the community to ensure adequate maintenance and security of the facilities, staff and students and take ownership of the college.
In his response, the royal father thanked the governor for remembering them in the community by upgrading the college to a diploma awarding institution.
Ibrahim also commended the commissioner for visiting the college to see things for himself, and ensuring that academic activities commenced in earnest.
The traditional ruler assured that adequate security would be provided for the staff and students of the college, including the facilities.
He stressed that his late father had suffered a lot and made several efforts to ensure that life came back to the institution but all to no avail.
He, therefore, eulogised the governor for considering it fit by giving approval for the upgrade of the college to a diploma awarding institution.
NAN reports that the commissioner was accompanied by his counterparts in the Ministry of Rural Development, Hon. Daniel Ejigbo, who hails from the local government area.
Ejigbo promised that the state government would give a transformer to the community. (NAN)
