Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, has called for the establishment of more tertiary institutions, especially private universities and polytechnics, in the state.

Obi was speaking at the first convocation ceremony of Tansian University, Umunya, near Onitsha, on Thursday. He was represented by Dr Kay Onyechi, the Commissioner for Education.

Obi noted that the appeal had become necessary going by the number of youths from the state that applied for entrance examinations to tertiary institutions.

“In the last unified JAMB examination, Anambra recorded the highest number of applicants that sat for the examination. And it is only through private institutions coming up that we will be able to provide institutions for them.

“The government would provide infrastructure for new institutions as well as support any group or body wishing to establish institutions in the state,’’ the governor said.

Our correspondent reports that at the convocation, the university awarded degrees to 420 graduates.

It also conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Political Science on the Senate President, Sen. David Mark, and commissioned its newly-built lecture halls.

In a message, Mark, who was represented by his Special Adviser, Dr Peter Deshi, lauded the South-East governors for improving the number of male-child enrolment in schools.

He said the legislature would continue to make laws that would better education and give private tertiary institutions the chance to compete with their counterparts in the public sector.

Earlier, Prof. Dan Hill, the Chancellor of the institution, noted that it was committed to producing quality graduates and man-power who could stand their ground anywhere in the world.

“For this reason, we have engaged the best hands of lecturers both local and international as well as equipped the institution with state-of-the-art learning facilities in a conducive environment,’’ Hill said.

The 420 graduands were produced from the College of Management and Social Sciences and College of Natural and Applied Sciences.

Miss Gloria Odenigbo of the political science department emerged the best graduating student and got the institution’s Overall Prize Winner Award while eight graduands got first class degrees.