The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has donated a two-storey administrative block of N999 million to the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) under its Education Intervention Programme.
Prof. Anthony Owan-Enoh, the Vice Chancellor of the university, said this at newsmen conference shortly after receiving the keys of the building from the CBN on Monday in Calabar.
Owan-Enoh said that the cost of the project, which the university gave to the CBN was over-shot as the furniture and installation of air-condition in the administrative building were removed from the budget.
He said that the initial plan was to include the Phase Two of the project, which is building of the Senate Chambers of the university.
“As a university, our target is to see how we can get across to the CBN governor to formally plead that the second phase be made a reality and the furniture that was removed in the administrative building be installed.
“The cost of this building is N999 million. We are very happy to have officially received this building from the CBN. This building has given our school a facelift,’’ he said.
Earlier, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who handed over the building to the school management, said that the project started in 2012 as part of the bank’s initiative to promote the value of education in the country.
Emefiele, who was represented by, Mr Akanimo Etim, an official of the bank from Calabar office, said that investment in the educational sector remained one of the key priorities of the CBN.
“The CBN is doing its best in ensuring that more value is added to the educational sector in the country.
“We are working according to our budget; the belief in some corners that we have unlimited resources does not hold any longer.
“But, within our limited resources, we will continue to offer the best we can to the educational sector in the country,’’ he said.
Mr Goddy Eta, the Commissioner for Education, thanked CBN for building and handing over the administrative block to the school.
Eta appealed to CBN to identify other intervention projects in other higher institutions of learning in the state, saying that some schools lacked basic infrastructures due to lack of money. (NAN)