Minister pledges to upgrade military institute

Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology, has promised to assist the Nigerian Army to upgrade its Institute of Technology and Environmental Science, Biu in Borno to a university.

Onu made the pledge when the Committee on the upgrading of the institute to university paid him courtesy visit on Thursday in Abuja.

The minister said that his ministry would assist in the area of technical know-how, technology and institutional capacity to enable the proposed university to stand on a firm footing.

According to him, the present administration is giving priority to a knowledge-based economy.

He said: “Upgrading of the institute to the status of a military university is a welcome development at this stage of the nation’s development.

“The Federal Government will continue to support any initiative that will enable Nigeria to utilise science and technology to solve her problem.

“With this kind of orientation, Nigeria will in no time be self-sufficient and becomes an industrial hub in the foreseeable future.’’

Onu commended the military institution for keying into the ongoing technological revolution and thinking ahead of its time.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Major-General Mathias Efeobokhi, said that the university would serve as a solution centre for the technological and other operational problems of the military and the nation.

Efeobokhi said that the institution would create the critical mass required for research, innovation, testing and development of military equipment in a 21st century setting.

“The university will facilitate the creation of an enabling environment to produce modern military hardware in Nigeria,” he said.