Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani has commended the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas for attracting infrastructure to his constituency and the state at large, especially four tertiary institutions of learning to Zaria, valued at N80bn.

The governor gave the commendation in Zaria at the commencement of the construction of a campus of the National Open University, Federal College of Education, Federal College of Nursing and the College of Legal Studies, all facilitated by Speaker Abbas.

He described Abbas as an exceptional leader dedicated to the growth and progress of Kaduna and Nigeria as a whole.

He said, “Only the Rt Hon Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas can facilitate projects worth N80bn to Zaria. Interventions like these are unprecedented and will create opportunities for our teeming citizens and also complement the efforts of the Kaduna state government.

“These projects when completed, will be of great benefit to the good people of Zaria local government and Kaduna state in general.

“Rt Hon Tajudeen Abbas has over the years, demonstrated commitment to the progress and development of Kaduna State. He has initiated and facilitated projects aimed at improving the conditions of the poor, vulnerable and underserved in Kaduna State. We are proud of him.”

Speaking of the Zaria Education City Project, an elated Speaker Abbas said, “This is the very first time that four tertiary institutions will commence work simultaneously in one city.

“The idea or conceptualisation of these four noble projects came as a result of the realisation that Zaria is only known for one thing since ancient times.

“Zaria is not known for commerce, Zaria is not known for industry but Zaria is known in Nigeria and everywhere in the world as a centre of learning.

“So, there is no befitting gift that you can give to the people of Zaria and to Kaduna State rather than consolidating in an area where it has been known for a long time and that is to create more and more institutions that will complement the other ones that we have within the ancient city.”

Based on the needs assessment, Abbas disclosed that Kaduna state has shortages of manpower in four priority areas.

“One of them is the issue of the health sector. We do not have enough qualified nurses and midwives in Kaduna state. We believe that Kaduna state will produce more health workers and that is the reason we decided among many other alternatives, to establish a Federal College of Nursing here in Zaria.

“We also realise that with the upgrade of Federal College of Education (To a University of Education), Kaduna State will not have any federal institution that is in charge of teaching or producing teachers of at least Nigeria Certificate of Education level.

“That is one of the reasons we felt that Zaria should at least continue to maintain or have an institution that will be dedicated to training the manpower required in our primary and junior secondary schools.

“That is what informed the decision to come up with this idea of constructing a Federal College of Education,” Speaker Abbas stated.

On the need to construct a campus of the National Open University of Nigeria, the Speaker said, “We have always been told that we have a lot of elders, a lot of workers in Zaria, who for one reason or the other, cannot go to a formal institution to learn because of the exigencies of their work.

“We felt that those people also deserve to be given an opportunity to excel in the field of education to the best of their ability.

“That is the reason we felt that the National Open University campus in Zaria will be of great importance to the teeming population we have here.

“The last but not the least is the College of Legal Studies which again from investigation and research, we discovered that Zaria and Kaduna State are still lagging behind in terms of legal experts.

“We do not have enough lawyers, Kadis and magistrates and we believe that the establishment of an institution to fill that vacuum will be of great importance to the people of Kaduna State and to the people of the North West.

“That is what informed our decision to also build the Federal College of Legal Studies in Zaria.”

He expressed optimism about the timely completion of all four projects, saying, “Of the four institutions that we are bringing on board, we are giving ourselves the target of one year and six months to complete all these projects.

“These are projects that at completion level will gulp not less than N80bn and we are ready to find means and ways of sourcing funds because this is what will raise the soul of Zaria and Kaduna state.”

The speaker commended Governor Sani for the prompt approval of the land to house the four institutions.

“Some people will not believe it if I tell them that this land was allocated by His Excellency after we only informed him of this need 48 hours ago.

“He told me that even if he will not sleep, he will stay behind to get all the necessary details that will enable him to sign for us to take over possession of this particular land,” the speaker added.