From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has said that plans are underway to establish the Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences, Iyin-Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelofun Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
The federal lawmaker dropped the hint during the 2023 Iyin-Ekiti Day celebration where he calmed the nerves of the people of the community who have been yearning to have the university in the town.
Bamidele who is the Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District noted that the establishment of the tertiary institution will help qualified candidates who are yearly denied admissions in the areas of Technology and Environmental Sciences to get university education and it will also accelerate development of the community.
“It is a desire of the people of Iyin Ekiti to have a Federal University established in this town. It is a desire that is currently receiving utmost legislative attention and at the end of the legislative action, which will be completed very soon, because the bill again has passed the second reading in the Senate and it will pass the third reading and will be moved to the House of Representatives for its concurrence at the second chamber .
“So within the next few weeks, we would have concluded this and Mr President is waiting to give his assent to this bill when it is finally passed, so that we can be on our way to hosting a Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences in Iyin-Ekiti.
“And it is about helping to provide access to many of our youths and children who are desirous of getting university education and who on yearly basis get turned back because we don’t have enough academic institutions to take care of them. We are on course in this regard and in a matter of some months, it would have become a reality.”
The Senator who is from Iyin-Ekiti used the occasion of the celebration to urge the people of the town to always live in peace and unity. He noted that the celebration was a way of giving back to the community, urging sons and daughters of Iyin-Ekiti in the country and in the diaspora, especially the haves to always give back to the community for its development.
“Today has spoken out so largely again that the only way you can enhance development in a community is to have peace and unity .
“This town comprises four different quarters. We are glad today because we are talking about Iyin Ekiti not just a quarter of the town. The event was a celebration of our unity, restrengthening of our union as a community. We are back hitting the ground running .
“For me, community development is about trying to make some commitments that the lives of the people and the community cannot be the same. People have their individual lives but a community has its own life as an entity and you don’t talk about community without talking about its people.
“We are not only doing this in Iyin-Ekiti, I am also encouraging every other town within my Senatorial District to do this.I just want to say, it is part of a way of giving back to the system and we are glad to do it in our community again with our friends.”
In his remarks, the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti, Oba Adeniyi Adeola Ajakaiye, stressed the need for communities to identify and harness their potential to enhance economic growth at the grassroots.
The monarch said lots of potentials that could be harnessed for development abound in the community.
“We have a lot of places, tourist attractions that we need to project to the world, to bring tourists to Iyin-Ekiti, to enhance the development of our town and we are putting up a strategic plan on how to develop the town.
“Iyin used to be the best planned town in the old western region and we want to continue this legacy.”
At the event, chieftaincy titles were conferred on some personalities and friends of the community.