Plateau state governor, Caleb Mutfwang has said that the north central governors have created a forum to enable them deliberate on addressing the region’s common concerns.
Mutfwang disclosed this when he received the adhoc committee on the investigation of the alleged abuse of N2.3 trillion of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), led by its chairman Rep. Unyime Idem on Sunday in Jos.
He said the forum would enable them to speak with one voice on their aspirations and challenges particularly on insecurity.
“I personally, and as governor of Plateau and I think generally for us in the north central, it is time to advocate strongly for state police. We need it, we must take our destiny into our hands.
“We believe that when the time comes for constitutional amendment, under the 10th assembly, this is something that should be looked into critically,” he said.
He appealed to members of the House of Representatives to support motions sponsored by their colleagues from Plateau on security to ensure that those responsible for protecting lives and property discharge their constitutional duties as required.
According to him, their investigations will reveal area of needs in the tertiary institutions for appropriate action and urged them to be dispassionate, objective and thorough in the discharge of their duties.
“What you are doing touches on the future of the fabric of the nation, which is education. Any society without sound education cannot move forward.
“We therefore need to get every strata of our educational system working appropriately but quite importantly, the tertiary education needs to be looked into critically,“ he said.
Mutfwang said that even though TETFund is addressing infrastructure development in Nigeria`s institutions and capacity building of its human resources, concerted efforts are still required from all relevant agencies of government to improve and sustain the standard of education in the country.
He said that his administration had placed premium on the education sector and interacted with some relevant government agencies such as Universal Basic Education Commission and the newly established senior secondary schools` board to improve on the sector for the benefit of Plateau youths.
Earlier in his remarks, Unyime said that there had been concerns that the projects on ground in tertiary institutions across the country do not commensurate to the funds released for them.
He said that the lower chambers set up an 18-member committee to investigate the allegation on TETfund which was established to ensure that tertiary institutions in the state are well managed, saying that the fund released to Plateau is about N42 billion.
He assured the governor that their report will represent the yearnings and the aspiration of the people of Nigeria, while commiserating with him on continuous attacks of some communities in the state.
According to him, the National Assembly have been trying its best to make legislations which would help in finding lasting solution to insecurity across the country.
