Senate Committee begins public hearing on Federal Poly Act amendment bill

Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TetFund, on Monday in Abuja, began Public Hearing on the Federal Polytechnics Act amendment Bill 2016 and Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act amendment Bill 2016.

Declaring the session open, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki said, “the Bill seeks to realign the laws of the polytechnics to suit technical education in the country’’.

Saraki,who was represented by the Chief Whip, Sen. Olusola Adeyeye (APC-Osun) said, “It also seeks to strengthen polytechnics and ensure stability in the polytechnics”.

He said that with the right structures in place, polytechnic education would take Nigeria to its technological height and would also help improve quality of education.

In his remark, the Chairman of the committee, Sen. Jibrin Barau (APC-Kano) said that Nigeria was executing a change agenda which was aimed at creating a sound socio-economic order.

“All the sectors are involved in this agenda, but most importantly, achieving the agenda rests on the quality of our human resource and the tertiary education sector,” he said.

According to Barau, the amendment is intended to correct the anomaly in the TetFund Act which is a violation of section 80(4) of the constitution.

“The section of the constitution provides that no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other Public Fund of the Federation,” the chairman said.

Also, the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education, Dr Masaludu Adamu Kazaure, noted that Nigeria had limited numbers of polytechnics.