Lagos to Develop 50-Year Master Plan for Tertiary Education

Lagos to Develop 50-Year Master Plan for Tertiary Education

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State said the state government has concluded plans to develop a 50-year master plan for tertiary education, aimed at improving the infrastructure and quality of education in the state.

Fashola who disclosed this at a meeting with students and the managements of the Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Lagos State College of Education (LACOED), Lagos City Polytechnic, youth organisations and members of the State Executive Council.

The meeting held at the auditorium of LASU to commemorate the 2,200 days of his administration and to facilitate and encourage the discussion and communication between the GOWN (which is the generic word for our higher institutions of learning) and the TOWN (the generic word for the larger society).

The governor said that the plan will soon be concluded and is a joint effort of the state executive council and the management of the state's tertiary institutions. He said; "It will help both parties achieve their desired dream for the institutions in the state. And our dream is to ensure that the institutions have higher quality of intellectual exchange just the way it happens in other great institutions of the world.

"This will further assist our students to compete favourably with their peers in Oxford, Harvard and others. Our students in tertiary institutions are in the generation right behind us. They are the ones who in a short time will bear the responsibility to refine our crude oil, generate our electricity, produce our water, manage this university, build our trains, secure our state and country and generally be responsible for our people's well-being," Fashola added.

According to him, "We are dreaming of this school 50 years ahead when many of us will not be here to determine the fate of the institution. We are courageous enough to start that journey today."

On the content of the plan, Fashola said; "Just in the way we have constructed a dedicated 24-hour Lagos Island Independent Power Project, IPP, to power public infrastructure in that axis, we will also be setting up a dedicated IPP for the institutions to provide an uninterrupted power supply,"adding that there will be new students hostel, staff quarters, and University Guest House that will help the institutions attract guest lecturers who can stay on campus to deliver their service."