Institute to plant 84 hectares of jathropha

As part of efforts to complement the Federal Government’s search for alternative source of fuel and boost the economy, the National Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) has acquired 84 hectares of land from Kaduna State government for jathropha plantation for biofuel production. 

The Director-General of the institute, Dr Bayero Salih Farah, made this known at the NITT headquarters in Kaduna while briefing journalists on achievements recorded by the institute in one year under his stewardship.  

The director-general said the country is in search of substitutes for crude oil and as such, the institute is “embarking on plantation of the plant so that if it is successful, we can expand it and extend to private investors.”

Speaking on the core mandate of the institute, which is training in the area of transport technology, Dr Farah said over 3,125 persons were trained in long-term and short-term programmes.

According to him, “Part of the desires of this administration is to see drivers in the country learn basic defensive driving techniques, inculcate decent driving habits and understand other important skills that are essential to their profession.

To achieve this, we decided to construct and equip Driver Development and Training Centers in all the institute’s outreach learning centres across the six geo-political zones. 

“With this initiative, the country will, hopefully in the near future, witness a significant drop in the accident rate because drivers’ behaviour would inevitably change as a result of continuous training,” he said.

He identified poor funding, inadequate capacity of human resources and facilities, and said the institute was sponsoring 16 staff abroad for Ph.D. and M.Sc. programmes in various fields of transport, engineering and other critical areas of need.

He also said the institute had embarked on massive infrastructural facelift of the school, particularly with building of more classrooms and laboratories.

“Part of the contributions made include the provision of conducive learning environment for the institute’s teeming participants through the renovation, upgrading and equipping of class rooms,” he added.