The Federal Government has said the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Zaria, has no business going cap in hand to the National Assembly every year for appropriation.
A statement quoted the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, to have said this on Thursday in Zaria during a familiarisation tour of the institute.
Sambo charged the institute to translate its giant strides in research, training and transport infrastructural development into self-sustenance instead of relying on government appropriations.
“The NITT has no business going cap in hand to the National Assembly every year looking for appropriation. From what I have seen, there is a lot of money you’re not making here,” the minister stated.
He, however, expressed satisfaction with the level of development in the institute.
“There’s no need for the agencies in the Transportation sector to send their staff members abroad for training when we have one of such institutions right here in Zaria. There is no need wasting scarce resources in such training outside,” Sambo said.
The minister added that despite the huge investments in the transportation sector by the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), a lot still needed to be done to advance it and to enable the country to overcome the deficit in the sector.
He urged the management of the institute to play a leading role that will put Nigeria’s transport sector in its rightful place in the global space.
“Upgrade the curriculum according to global best practices and affiliate with various research institutions to increase the knowledge base of the lecturers and beneficiaries. This is necessary to place the institute on a high pedestal and as a training hub in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large,” the minister added.
Earlier, the Director-General, NITT, Zaria, Dr Bayero Salih-Farah, said, “The Institute is complementing the effort of the present administration in exiting the petrol subsidy regime through the provision of alternative energy sources to the transportation sector.”
He said the institute was currently in talks with the National Gas Expansion Programme Committee to provide the technical manpower that will engineer the process of converting all fossil fuel-driven vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas, Liquefied Natural Gas or the Liquefied Premium gas.
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