When NAAT conferred merit award on Echono for exemplary leadership

When renowned author, James Hadley Chase (real sanction Rene Raymond) penned his best-selling caller Goldfish Have No Hiding Place successful 1974, the thriller fabrication writer and 1 of the champion known thriller writers of each time, astir apt had the likes of the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, successful mind. Barely 2 weeks aft receiving an grant astatine the 2024 Innovate African Conference held astatine Havard Graduate School of Education, United States of America, the TETFund helmsman has added yet different feather to his cap.
This time, helium was conferred with an grant of merit by the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) successful designation of his exemplary enactment successful the acquisition assemblage and work to humanity.

Speaking astatine the grant ceremony, President of NAAT, Comrade Ibeji Nwokoma, informed the guests that the grant was successful designation of Echono’s exemplary enactment successful the acquisition sector, prime assurance and work to humanity.

At the event, which held astatine NAAT Secretariat astatine the University of Abuja, the NAAT President applauded the TETFund brag for his interventions successful the tertiary acquisition sub-sector, particularly arsenic it relates to the association. This, helium said, has seen the constitution of caller laboratories, upgrade of existing ones and scholarships for NAAT members, among others.

“We privation to commend you implicit the circular for our members to besides bask assistance awards. We are profoundly grateful to you,” helium said.
Receiving the award, Echono stated that specified designation would further spur the absorption of the Fund into much actions.
He expressed profound gratitude to NAAT for the award, stating that the interventionist bureau remains committed to supporting the improvement of nationalist tertiary acquisition institutions crossed the country.

And going by the activities of the Fund since helium assumed office, determination is nary ambiguity that Echono has been capable to lucifer words with actions.
Since his appointment, Echono has maintained that the aboriginal of acquisition is inextricably tied to advances successful exertion and this ideology has guided his committedness towards technological advancement successful tertiary institutions crossed the world.

He pointed retired that NAAT members nevertheless played a cardinal relation successful this transformation.
Echono reiterated the committedness of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu medication successful shifting accent to skills, adding that innovation, entrepreneurship and caller ideas would thrust the aboriginal of acquisition successful the country.

The TETFund brag assured that the bureau would guarantee that the relation gets the requisite tools, cognition and facilities to enactment with.
His words: “We are grateful to the Almighty. It is an affirmation of the humble efforts that TETFund is making to alteration the Nigerian acquisition system. And this is to fulfill Mr. President’s mandate to absorption connected skills to equip Nigerian children with the applicable cognition and accomplishment truthful that done innovation and entrepreneurship, they volition beryllium capable to marque meaningful contributions to this system arsenic employers of labour. Such volition besides presumption them to make wealthiness and not conscionable seeking employment, and we judge that the steps we are taking volition instrumentality america there.”

Echono added that the National Association of Academic Technologists played a cardinal relation “because they are the ones successful complaint of our laboratories and workshops crossed our assorted institutions.”

“We person embarked connected a programme arsenic they each acknowledged; we person teams going circular each our institutions to measure the assets infrastructure, to measure the prime of instrumentality that we person successful our workshops, to guarantee that we person dependable energy to powerfulness immoderate of these captious laboratories successful our campuses.

“Mr. President has approved a important involution for this and we mean to statesman to intervene arsenic soon arsenic we person the study and the prioritisation of these interventions, which would beryllium sustained.

“We are trying to beforehand a linkage betwixt our institutions and the community. They volition beryllium organising skills acquisition programmes for their big communities. Each polytechnic, for example, is identifying halfway areas of competencies wherever they privation to promote. And done vacation programmes, sandwich programmes, we are going to instrumentality radical distant from the streets and they volition gain a surviving and provender themselves and their families.

“There are truthful galore accomplishment areas wherever we are not adjacent paying adequately. We privation to capable those accomplishment gaps. We don’t request to person artisans coming from different countries to enactment successful our operation industries,” Echono added.
The TETFund brag besides announced the accumulation of sponsorship of NAAT diary arsenic portion of the Fund’s interventions successful the association.

“TETFund volition sponsor the accumulation of nonrecreational journals and magazines arsenic good arsenic those by bodies specified arsenic your own. I privation to guarantee you connected behalf of our absorption that this work volition person TETFund’s backing due to the fact that this is simply a corporate volition of each the practitioners and technologists successful our world environment.

“So, a papers that is edited by you, produced by you for your usage and for your students cannot beryllium faulted. TETFund volition truthful enactment the sustenance of this diary successful the aforesaid mode we are supporting respective nonrecreational journals,” helium stated.

In 2022, Echono not lone received the National Honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) from contiguous past President Muhammadu Buhari but besides bagged an grant arsenic Fellow of the Nigerian Association for Educational Administration and Planning (NAEP), among respective accolades and recognitions from Nigeria and beyond, successful appreciation of the values helium brings to carnivore connected the nation’s tertiary acquisition sector.