ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Socio-political crusaders, under the auspices of the Niger Delta All Progressives Congress Youth Vanguard (APC-YV), have praised President Muhammadu Buhari for the appointment of Mr Sunny Echono as the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
A statement on Friday by the National Coordinator, APC-YV, Comrade Fiawei Pathfinder, described Echono as a game changer.
He said the new TETFund Executive Secretary had all it took to transform the tertiary institutions across the country based on his wealth of experience and knowledge in the education sector.
Pathfinder said Buhari’s wisdom in carefully appointing Echono, an architect, was the best thing that had happened to the nation’s tertiary institutions.
He expressed optimism that the appointee would raise the bar in the education sector in terms of infrastructure and human capacity development.
The statement reads in part: “The leaders of APC-YV, core believers and supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government comprising ex-agitators and stakeholders with progressive minds use this medium to hail President Buhari for his wisdom in appointing Arc Sunny Echono as the ES of TETFund.
“He is a professional and an experienced technocrat who understands academia, especially, the institutions of higher learning.
“We know the pedigree and high sense of patriotism he has shown over the years as well as his impact right from the time he was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“Until he was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Education as Permanent Secretary, there was tremendous impact and footprints he left behind. His legacies speak volumes due to his pragmatic and proactive manner of going about his duties of serving this country selflessly and transparently with a clean track record.
“He is a man of honour and achievement, and also a game changer wherever he is taken to work because of his professional way of handling financial, human and material resources based on his prudence and tact.
“We strongly believe that the tertiary institutions in the country will experience a drastic change in no distant time as he has already hit the ground running.
“We commend him to this as well as for the humility displayed in his speech after he took over the helms of affairs at TETFund by saying he would consolidate what his predecessors had done and achieved.
“We deem it fit to join Nigerians and other notable professionals in the education sector and academia to congratulate Arch Sunny Echono, for this highly celebrated and well deserved appointment.”
Pathfinder also commended the swift action by the TETFund boss on the allocation of funds to TETFund Centres of Excellence.
He commended Echono and his team for giving boost to TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS), through which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and a consortium of nearly 40 universities.