Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has endorsed the public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement for the establishment of the Technical University, pledging that his Foundation would partner with Oyo State government to ensure the success of the project.
Okorocha spoke during a visit to the permanent site of the university on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in company with his Oyo State counterpart, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, on Friday.
Ajimobi had, during the inspection, explained that the establishment of the institution would be based on a PPP arrangement in which the state would have 10 per cent holding while other interested partners would own the rest.
"The university, as it had been stated before, is going to be on a PPP arrangement, where the state will own only 10 per cent while the remaining 90 per cent will be owned by interested partners.
"You can see that some of the classrooms, library and the administrative buildings have been built and completed by the Central Bank as its own contribution towards the university.
"As you can also see, my brother, Governor Okorocha is here because of that. You know he is not just a governor, he is an educationist who has schools all over Nigeria. So are many others who are also reaching out to us for partnership," he said.
In his own remarks, Okorocha said he was in full support of the PPP idea for the institution, saying it was in line with global best practices.
"I support Governor Ajimobi on this idea of PPP because it is the best way to go and I implore all Oyo people to support the governor in achieving this laudable dream for the growth of Oyo State," he said.
Okorocha, who described Ajimobi as a great visionary, said he was very happy to see the numerous projects being embarked upon by the governor,
"I'm in Ibadan to look for a suitable permanent site for the Okorocha Educational Foundation which had existed for 11 years in Oyo State.
"I will also love to partner with Oyo State in this Technical University project as we will love students graduating from on our secondary school to gain admission to the university" he said.
While explaining further on the concept of the university, Ajimobi said that many Nigerian youths who were supposed to study in Nigeria could not do so because most of the existing universities in the country were not offering the technical courses being offered by the foreign universities.
He said that the institution would focus primarily on technical education to boost the country's industrialization efforts.
"We have many Nigerian students in Ghana, United States of America and other foreign countries who are supposed to be here.
"They had to go out for the specific courses those foreign schools have to offer that are not common in most universities here. This is going to be an international university with courses that are normally not offered in most Nigerian universities.
"The focus of any technical education is industrialization. We believe that if people partner with us, there will be natural mutual gain. We have the Rochas Educational Foundation that has already signified interest in partnering in the technical university," Ajimobi said.
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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