A bill to establish the Federal University of Science Deba, Gombe State, has scaled its second reading in the Senate.

This followed the presentation of the lead debate on the general principles of the bill by the sponsor, Danjuma Goje (APC-Gombe), during plenary on Tuesday in Abuja.

Leading the debate, Mr Goje said the bill was read for the first time on Wednesday, July 2.

He said: “You will all agree with me the importance of education in the socio-economic development of any country cannot be overemphasised.

“And for any country to align with global educational dynamics, adequate preparation needs to be put in place.

“It is along this line that this bill has been developed to establish the Federal University of Science Deba, Gombe State, North-Eastern Nigeria”.

He said the proposed university would provide the requisite knowledge and expertise that would drive modern scientific innovations in Nigeria.

“The objectives of the university, as outlined in the bill, among others, include to demonstrate scientific knowledge, skills, attitude and experience, especially in their professional disciplines, with a global mindset using critical thinking and problem-solving approaches.

“Exhibit significantly a balanced character of altruistic values and attitudes, ethics and professionalism, scientific thinking, arts and humanity toward good citizenship and nation building.”

Mr Goje further said there was strong justification that Nigeria needed more universities, specifically specialised universities, for its necessary development among the comity of nations.

“That is, if the country wants to compete with other developed nations economically, scientifically and technologically, it needs additional higher institutions of learning, especially the type this bill seeks to establish.

“Having this type of university in this part of Nigeria, the North-East, with a faculty for Petroleum/Petrochemical Sciences and Engineering is promising to the future of the petroleum industry for personnel, research and development,” he said.

In his remarks, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau commended the sponsor of the bill on his passion for the educational development of Gombe State and the North-East in general.

He thereafter referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund for further legislative action and to report back in four weeks.

(NAN)