Poly rectors hail TETfund for developmental impact on tertiary institutions

Rectors of the Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Uwana, Dr. OgbonniaIbe-Enwo; his colleague from the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State, Dr. (Mrs.) Kudirat Ladipo, and that of Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, Kwara State, Alhaji Mas’ud Elelu, have jointly hailed the contributions made by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), taking turns to pour accolades on the positive and developmental impact the interventionist agency have made by tertiary institutions in the country.

The three polytechnic managers, who spoke during the commissioning of various projects sponsored by TETFund in their respective institutions, were unanimous in submitting that without the interventions from TETFund, the story emanating from all public tertiary institutions in the country will not be anything to write home about.

Recall that at the Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Uwana, the TETfund Executive Secretary commissioned the 3,000 capacity Prof. Francis Otunta Lecture Theatre, John Oyegun Wet Processing Laboratory for the Food Science Technology School, Adamu Adamu School of Environmental Design Technology Complex and a workshop for Animal Production Department as well as visits to other projects.

The TETFund boss, who was also at the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, Kwara State, commissioned the Prof. Shehu Jimoh Library which comprises both books and e-library facilities, the Academic Staff Office Complex, Auditorium, Mini-Olympic Stadium with Indoor games facility and the Centre for Research and information Technology. The Executive Secretary also took a tour of the two campuses of the Polytechnic.

According to the Rector of the Yaba College of Technology, Dr. Margaret Kudirat Ladipo, “the story of educational development in Nigeria will not be complete without mentioning the immense contributions of TETFund.

Speaking at the various commissioning exercises, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Dr. Abdullahi Baffa, reiterated that N213 billion grant has been allocated for TETFund Annual Allocation for all beneficiary institutions in the country which is a boost from what they received the previous year.
Baffa gave the breakdown of the allocation to show that each federal polytechnic was allocated N691 million, while colleges of education got N679 million and the universities were given N1.009 billion.

While noting that institutions have submitted their project proposals, and that they are already receiving the funds and putting them to use, the TETFund boss noted that “Research is crucial to the success of the country’s higher institution,” adding that “there is need for those in the academia to convert their researches into policies and programme to ensure that institutions of higher learning grow.

Dr. Baffa also insisted that private tertiary institutions cannot benefit from the fund’s intervention projects because TETFund was conceived to carry out intervention projects in public institutions that were not charging tuition fees, noting that since private tertiary institutions are charging tuition fees, they are not covered under the law that established TETfund and as such could not benefit from its interventionist projects.

Augustine Okezie
Abuja