The Federal Government has praised Kogi State’s investments in education, describing them as evidence of how President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is translating into improved learning opportunities and youth development across the country.

The commendation came on Sunday during the Presidential Media Tour of Projects in Kogi State, organised by the Renewed Hope Ambassadors (RHA) in collaboration with the Presidential Media Team.

The tour, which inspected key projects executed by Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo’s administration, marked Kogi as the first state visited in the North Central region after a similar exercise in Imo State last week.

Leading the delegation, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, said the facilities inspected at the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, reflected the priority President Tinubu places on education as a driver of national development.

Dare noted that the university’s rapid growth within a few years demonstrated the value of continuity in governance, saying the institution conceived under former Governor Yahaya Bello had expanded significantly under Governor Ododo.

He said the university, with a student population of more than 6,000, had become one of the country’s fastest-growing public universities and a strong example of investment in science, technology and innovation.

“The President has repeatedly said that the best weapon against poverty is education. What we have seen here is a testimony to that belief,” Dare said.

He added that the Federal Government’s education reforms, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) and free technical education initiatives, were helping more young Nigerians gain access to higher education and acquire skills needed for the 21st-century economy.

According to him, investments in digital skills, technical education and youth development remain central to the Renewed Hope Agenda.

The tour also visited the GYB Model Science Secondary School, Nagazi, built to serve as one of the feeder schools for CUSTECH.

Kogi State Commissioner for Works, Barr. Abdulsalami Ozigi Deedat, said the state’s education strategy was deliberately designed to create a seamless pathway from quality secondary education to specialised university training.

He disclosed that Kogi now operates three state-owned universities spread across the state’s senatorial districts and has established model science secondary schools to prepare students for admission into the institutions.

Deedat described the projects as products of policy continuity, noting that Governor Ododo had sustained and expanded initiatives started by his predecessor.

He also linked the state’s ability to undertake large-scale infrastructure and education projects to increased revenues available to states following the Federal Government’s economic reforms.

“We must appreciate Mr President because without the resources now available to the states, projects of this magnitude would have been difficult to deliver,” he said.

He added that education in Kogi is largely free from primary to secondary school level, with the state government also paying examination fees for WAEC, NECO and JAMB candidates enrolled in public schools.

At CUSTECH, Director of Academic Planning, Prof. Muhammed Asuku Audu, said the institution had grown from an initial enrolment of about 240 students in 2021 to approximately 6,000 students in less than six years.

He explained that the university now has nine faculties, 56 accredited academic programmes and a long-term master plan guiding both its academic and physical development.

According to him, the institution has benefited from consistent funding by the state government as well as interventions from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), enabling it to expand rapidly.

Audu said laboratories and specialised facilities were fully equipped even before the completion of some buildings, while modern hostels, security infrastructure and CCTV surveillance had also been provided to improve learning and student welfare.

He added that the university’s College of Medical Sciences was already equipped for programmes including Medicine, Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy, Anatomy, Physiology and Radiography.

The principal of GYB Model Science Secondary School, Nagazi, Yusuf Hussein Agogoudi, said the school was commissioned in April this year by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa.

He said the institution currently has 1,769 students and features 38 classrooms, modern science laboratories, a computer-based testing centre with about 300 computer systems and workshops for technical education.

According to him, the model schools established across Kogi’s three senatorial districts are designed to strengthen science education and prepare students for admission into specialised institutions such as CUSTECH.

He added that students of the school recently emerged overall winners in a national chemistry competition and would represent the state at the North Central level.

Beyond education, the media team also inspected the Barefoot Renewable Energy College located within the CUSTECH campus and the CUSTECH Teaching Hospital in Okene.

The delegation later visited ongoing reconstruction works on the Abuja-Lokoja-Benin Highway, where Deedat commended the Federal Government for accelerating rehabilitation of the critical road corridor.

He said work had gathered momentum across different sections of the highway following recent interventions by the Federal Ministry of Works, describing the route as one that had suffered years of neglect before the current administration prioritised its reconstruction.

According to him, the pace of work on the project demonstrates the Federal Government’s commitment to improving transport infrastructure and supporting economic activities across the North Central corridor.

The Presidential Media Tour is expected to continue in other states as part of efforts to showcase projects being implemented under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.