From Celestine Ihejirika, Jalingo
The Rector of the College of Agriculture, Science and Technology (COAST), Jalingo, Dr. Yakubu Ali Garjila, has commended Taraba State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas, for reviving the institution’s convocation ceremony after 28 years.
Garjila said the governor had “clearly carved a niche for himself” by ensuring that the college held its 17th–46th combined convocation, describing the development as a landmark achievement for the institution.
The Rector made the remarks while speaking with newsmen shortly after the convocation ceremony, stressing that Governor Kefas deserved commendation for his intervention in the affairs of the institution.
According to him, posterity would remember the administration for changing the narrative and making it possible for the college to hold its combined convocation after such a long period.
“Today the entire management, staff and students of the College (past and present) are happy with the peoples oriented governor Dr. Agbu Kefas for changing the narrative of the Institution”.
Speaking on the achievements recorded by the college during the period under review, Garjila listed the change in the college’s nomenclature from a monotechnic to polytechnic status, assessment of TETFund intervention, and the accreditation of an additional 13 National Diploma programmes by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) resource verification team.
Other achievements, he said, included the creation of new departments, ongoing infrastructural development and the establishment of the School of Postgraduate Studies, among several others.
On the challenges confronting the institution, the Rector identified inadequate hostel, office and residential accommodation, epileptic power supply, the deplorable condition of the internal road network and the shortage of school utility buses, among others.
He urged the state government to consider approving the memoranda submitted by the institution to address some of the pressing challenges currently facing the college.
In his remarks, Governor Agbu Kefas congratulated the governing council, management and staff of the college for their efforts in nurturing the students and commended the parents and guardians whose sacrifices, he said, had contributed to making the occasion possible.
Kefas, who was represented at the event by the Speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly, Hon. Kizito John Bonzena, charged the graduates to look inward, noting that white-collar jobs were gradually becoming inadequate in addressing the realities of the present economy.
“Let your generation prove that agriculture can be sophisticated, profitable, and dignified and prove that the greatest opportunities in Nigeria are not necessarily found in minerals but in the soil we cultivate and the value we create from it”.
He urged the graduates not to depend solely on government employment as the pathway to success.
“Do not leave this College believing that success begins only when the government gives you employment, government employment is honourable but it cannot be the only destination of education”, he stated.
The governor reiterated his administration’s commitment to placing agriculture at the centre of Taraba State’s economic development, stressing that government could not achieve the objective alone without the active involvement of institutions and development partners.
