Little drops of water it is said, make a mighty ocean. I believe this. We are making progress with the new super grid to transmit power through out Nigeria while also moving full steam ahead in building new power plants and maintaining the old ones. However, we still have to think nationally and act locally and make sure that where there is opportunity we make use of it to give power to Nigerians by whatever means we can. This is why I have committed the Federal Government to develop coal-powered and solar turbines to generate power for the Nsukka campus of the University of Nigeria and its environs.
This is no empty promise. I wish to remind Nigerians that I have a track record of making few promises but delivering on the few that I make. Just as an example, very close to Nsukka is the Akanu Ibiam Airport. As a fall out of the recent Certificate 1 certification granted to Nigeria by the U.S Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), I promised that this airport will be upgraded to International Status to prepare Nigeria to become a regional aviation hub being the only West African country with this level of certification. I am glad to report that work has begun as I write at the Akanu Ibiam airport and a new terminal is already being built.
I also want to seize this opportunity to thank those responsible corporate citizens who have put their money where their mouth is and have contributed to the development of education in Nigeria by building a N3.8b ICT Infrastructure programme for the University of Nigeria. Many thanks to Google Inc which led this programme under its Africa University Access Programme in collaboration and partnership with several ICT firms including MTN Nigeria, Main One Limited, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft Corporation, BCX Networks, Wavion Inc, and Xirrus Limited of Israel.
To make sure that we revive our Universities and restore them as citadels of learning the Federal Government under my leadership is setting up a Presidential Commission on Education & Knowledge Economy to examine critically the issues, causes, and requisite frameworks for ensuring better competitiveness of Nigerian Education including the much-neglected Technical and Vocational Education.
Let me assure all Parents and guardians of university undergraduates as well as the undergraduates themselves that I am from the academia and I know where the shoe pinches and I have the will to do what is right to restore the glory years of the Nigerian University system, so help me God. GEJ