Govt ‘II Address Accommodation Challenge In Tertiary Institutions––Sinebe

Delta State Government is to address the problem of accommodation facing students in the state-owned tertiary institutions through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, the state Commissioner for Higher Education, Engr. Jude Sinebe, has said.

Engr. Sinebe, who was responding to appeal made by students’ union leaders in the Colleges of Education in Agbor and Warri as well as the College of Physical Education, Mosogar and Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara during his familiarization visit to the institutions, said that the state government was not unmindful of the accommodation challenges faced by students in tertiary institutions in the state.

According to him, the state government was already talking with some investors who have indicated interest in building hostel facilities in the state-owned tertiary institutions under the PPP arrangement, adding that there was significant need for both students and the authorities of the various institutions to provide the conducive environment that would enable the investors to deliver the hostel projects by the time the state  government gives  them the “go ahead” to execute the projects on PPP basis.

“We expect students and the authorities of the various institutions in the state to do the needful by creating an enabling environment that would enable the PPP arrangement to thrive in the development of hostel facilities in our tertiary institutions in the state”, he said, pointing out that the state government would soon conclude arrangement on the PPP vis-a-vis school hostel facilities.
On bursary for students of the state origin in tertiary institutions of higher learning across the country, the commissioner said that the state government would continue to do its best in order to ensure that those who are genuinely qualify for the bursary scheme benefit from it, adding that the state government would put in place measures that would help in checkmating fraudulent practices associate with the scheme.

While urging students in tertiary institutions to be passionately committed to their studies so as to enable them excel in their academic life, Sinebe assured authorities of the institutions visited that the issues raised by them would be channeled to the government with a view to addressing some of them, even as he stressed the need for them to be patient with the state in its drive to rapidly develop the state through the SMART agenda.

The Commissioner who was accompanied on the visit by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Elder Eric Osharode and other Directors in the ministry as well as his political aides, later inspected both completed and ongoing projects in the various institutions