Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello has attributed the relocation of the multi-million naira Teacher Professional Development Institute in Mararaban Dandaudu, Shiroro local government area of the state to insecurity.
The Institute, to be known as Legacy Centre will be built at the premises of the Government Girls Secondary School (former WTC), Minna, the state capital.
Bello made this disclosure at the combined graduation ceremony of 513 students of 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic sessions of the Niger State Teacher Professional Development Institute in Minna.
He lamented that despite huge investments in the education sector and putting in place state-of-the-art facilities to aid teaching and learning at the Dandaudu and Kuta Centres of the Institute, the government is forced to relocate them due to insecurity and banditry amongst others.
The governor noted that the Institute was set up after a critical and careful review of the challenges confronting the education sector, particularly, because the quality of education is largely dependent on the quality of teachers.
He said, ” the institute was envisioned to cater for the professional development of teachers and catch them young for the profession, especially, from the background of the failing infrastructure and poor quality of teaching and learning in the state”.
The Mararaban Dan – Daudu Teacher Institute is currently operating at Zarumai secondary school, Minna as a result of kidnapping, banditry and others criminalities.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Hannatu Jibrin Salihu thanked the governor for his foresight in changing the narrative in the education sector, noting that the Institute has met the expectations of the state.
Salihu disclosed that in the last seven years, the state government has continued to invest in education through a roadmap developed for the sector to ensure the much desired transformation in the state.
Also, the Chairperson and Chief Executive of the Institute, Hajiya Dije Bala said the enrollment of the 513 students was done across the 274 wards of the state and was based on merit while urging beneficiaries to use the knowledge gathered to impact on society