By Sadeeq Muhammad Umar
The National Universities Commission (NUC) on Monday identified the Shehu Shagari University of Education (SSUE) as the first discipline based tertiary institution of its kind in the entire northern region of the country.
Hitherto known as Shehu Shagari College of Education (SSCOE), it was upgraded by Gov. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to the status of a full-fledged varsity that will have bias for entrepreneurship development.
The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, confirmed the recognition of the varsity when Gov. Tambuwal led the management board of the university to present strategic documents of the institution to the Commission in Abuja.
According to Prof. Rasheed, “prior to the visit, the NUC has looked at the antecedents of the SSCOE vis-a-vis the outstanding credentials of Gov. Tambuwal in the area of education development, particularly, tertiary education; and gladly present to you a letter of recognition of the SSUE as the 58th state university in the country and first of its type in Northern Nigeria, in addition to being the fourth in such category in the country.”
He further stated that the impressive record of the Governor as a statesman with extensive national network is very clear to people of the country, emphasizing that he is yet to rest in his drive for better education thresholds for the people of Sokoto state.
In his remarks before presenting the strategic documents, Gov. Tambuwal explained that the establishment of the varsity followed due process of the law and statutes of the NUC.
He said the desideratum for establishing the university is the dearth of manpower in the education sector in the state, thereby expressing hope that “the university will go a long way in addressing the human resources gap and benefit the people of the state and its catchment areas.”
He stressed that all that could be done to ensure the smooth take-off of the university, which focus primarily on the combination of theoretical and functional education, has been done, assuring the NUC that the state government and the university will continue to abide by all its rules.
He pledged that the varsity will hit the ground running soonest.
Gov. Tambuwal was accompanied during the presentation by the state Commissioner for Sports and Youths Development, Bashir Gorau, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Malami Tambuwal, the Managing Director of the Sokoto State Investment Board, Alhaji and other members of the university management board.
