TETFUND boss blasts past UNIABUJA administrators
The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Dr. Abdullahl Bichi Baffa, has taken a swipe at past managements of the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) for what he called ‘’historical mismanagement’’ and their lack of taste for world class infrastructure and the culture of deliberate design to ensure the stunted growth of the university.
Baffa, who spoke at a town hall/sensitisation meeting organised by the fund for the members of the university’s academic community, also maintained that Uniabuja had remained unlucky since its establishment despite its proximity to the seat of power and the huge amount of money that has been invested into it by government, due to the sense of perversion that characterised the style of the past managements of the university.
He said: ’’University of Abuja is perhaps the luckiest for its location to the seat of power, unluckiest however because of the historical mismanagement of resources allocated to it in the past successive years. From the date of its establishment till today, the quantity of money sank into the institution is unbelievable but the result remains very poor because of a culture of deliberate design to thwart the growth of the varsity’’.
The TETFUND boss further disclosed that the fund does not discriminate in the disbursement of fund to tertiary institutions and that the agency is carefully guided by the provisions of the mandate establishing it during interventions. He advised the community to hold the management of the school accountable on the utilisation of allocations made to it rather than accusing the fund.
He said: “The law requires treatment of institutions on equal bases. If you see lots of projects undertaken by the fund in several other universities more to the ones in your own, it is the result of same equal allocations that was also made to your school, but because the priorities of these institutions and style of management differs’’.
On the reasons for lack of Iconic infrastructure in the university’s landscape, the TETFUND boss traced it to misplacement of priorities and the diversion of allocations, which often led to the construction of low profile building projects as classrooms and offices.
Earlier in his welcome address at the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Michael Adikwu, said the interactive forum offered sterling opportunity for answers to frequently asked questions on the interventionist activities of TETFUND especially in the area of academic training and scholarship programmes.
But some members of the academic community at the meeting requested the fund to give the university a facelift by intervening in the building of world class infrastructure especially in class room auditorium, office blocks, and other facilities. A professor in the Faculty of Education, specifically requested the construction of new faculty block in the permanent site to replace what she described ‘’primary school block’’ located in the Mini campus.
