The Kwara State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Sa’adatu Modibbo-Kawu, said on Wednesday that the government had spent about N1.592 billion to clear the arrears of salaries and subventions of tertiary institutions in the state.

Mrs Modibbo-Kawu, said this in Ilorin, the state capital, during the inauguration of the Visitation Panel to Kwara State Polytechnic.

She promised that ill-equipped institutions with dilapidated structures and ill-motivated teachers and lecturers would receive government’s intervention.

She said the College of Education, Lafiagi, and College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, Ilorin, had undergone accreditation by National Commission for Colleges of Education and National Board for Technical Education.

Modibbo-Kawu said the government had also constituted a 10-member visitation panel to examine every aspect of the Kwara State University, Malete.

She said the initiative was part of government’s plans to revamp the tertiary education in the state.

The commissioner said the mandate of the visitation panel was to bring about the desired positive change to the operations of the polytechnic.

She said the state government was determined to make sure that education continues to receive priority attention.

Also, the Chairman of the panel, Abdulfatai Bello, a professor, said they were charged to carry out an organisational review of the polytechnic, which was established about 50 years ago.

Mr Bello said it was time to overhaul the system, adding that the panel’s assignment was not to witchhunt anyone.

“We will give our best in the interest of the state and be sure that things will be done in an acceptable manner,” he said.

He said the review would involve the entire polytechnic administration, ranging from personnel to management.

“We will look to see if there is maladministration and how to remedy it and ways to improve revenue generation for the institution,” he said.

Other members of the panel included AbdulFatai Olajide, a Private Chartered Accountant and Auditor and Christina Amudipe, a Primary Health Consultant, among others.