The National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, has been given the permission to award a degree of Education in Distance Learning, according to its outgoing Director-General, Prof. Musa Garba-Maitafsir.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that he spoke on Monday in Kaduna when he handed over to his successor, Prof. Sa’adiyya Sani-Daura.
Garba-Maitafsir said she was coming at a time when the environment was fertile and recalled the beginning of his administration.
He said that he met the Institute as ‘an administrative outlet,’ but had transformed it into an academic outfit, with the Institute staff involved in the marking of scripts and other academic activities.
Speaking further on his stewardship, the outgoing NTI boss said when he came he inherited a huge debt of about N1.2 billion and his administration had paid 95 per cent of the debts.
Mr Garba-Maitafsir said, ”My administration cut the unnecessary spendings, renovated chalets at the NTI Conference Centre as well as refurbished the Institute’s Printing Press, where printing items of the Institute were now printed there.
The outgoing director-general said that in the last ministerial briefing, NTI emerged the best performing agency in the Federal Ministry of Education.
He, therefore, advised Sani-Daura to maintain the standard, vowing to avail her of his wise counsel and advice for her to succeed.
Responding, the new NTI boss, the pioneer woman to occupy the position, said her administration would champion the mandate and objectives of the Institute.
Mrs Sani- Daura also said her administration would consolidate on the feats of the previous administration of Garba- Maitafsir.
While tasking the staff of the Institute to do their work diligently, she encouraged team work and sought the support and cooperation of staff in general.
On the challenges of the Institute, Mrs Sani-Daura expressed commitment to study the situation and concluded that such challenges were surmountable.
NAN also reports that the outgoing director-general, in company of the Institute’s management staff went to sites of specific projects at the Institute and handed them over to Sani-Daura.
“From the foundation laid, NTI will answer its name as an academic institution. I came peacefully and left happily,” he concluded.
NAN
