Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, has said he does not owe anybody apology for citing the Federal University of Transportation in Daura.
Amaechi spoke on Monday in Daura, Katsina State, as President Muhammadu Buhari performed the groundbreaking for the university.
The minister, in his welcome address, said the university was his own “imagination” to ensure the availability of the manpower needed for the sustenance of modern technology, especially in railway transportation.
Amaechi said Daura was suitable for the university, stating that he would not mind being called a sycophant for saying so.
He said, “When we cited the wagon factory at Kajola, there was no noise. If by citing this university in Daura, people will call me a sycophant, I would not mind being called a sycophant.
‘Is Daura not in Nigeria? Daura is not in Chad or in Mali. Daura is in Nigeria. What is wrong in citing the university in Daura?”
The minister said 60 Nigerians were in various universities in China studying railway technology while another 90 would soon join them.
He maintained that the new university would facilitate the manpower development in Nigeria apart from promoting indigenous technology in the country.
In his comment, Buhari said the university would provide the much-needed local manpower that would promote modern technology for the development of railway technology in Nigeria.
He noted that the wagon plant at Kajola, Ogun State and the new university would boost the existing relationship and cooperation between Nigeria and China.
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He thanked the Chinese government for the new institution, which he described as a huge project, stressing that the Federal Government appreciated the contributions of China to the economic and industrial development of Nigeria.
The President stressed that the project and other related ones were aimed at promoting indigenous technology in Nigeria, adding that the university would boost both the manpower and economic development in Nigeria.
Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, in his address on the occasion, said the state would continue to provide the needed support and assistance for the university.
THISDAY
