The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Professor Suleiman Bogoro has said that the intervention agency has made meaningful progress in reversing the monumental decay in public universities and other tertiary institutions in the country.
From 1999 to date, TETFund has invested over N1.5 trillion in the development of infrastructure in public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria.
Bogoro, speaking on Thursday in Abuja at a one-day meeting of the TETfund Technical Advisory Committee on Impact Assessment (TACIA), with heads of beneficiary institutions, saying the era of monumental decay in tertiary education in Nigeria was over.
He said TETFund was committed to ensuring quality education at the public tertiary institutions in the country. Bogoro was represented by the Director of Strategic Planning and Development, Mr Ifiok Ukim.
He added that the meeting was essentially to sensitise all the Vice-Chancellors, Provosts and Rectors of the beneficiary institutions and to solicit support for the impact assessment of both the former Education Trust Fund (ETF) and TETFund interventions covering the period of 1999 to 2018.
He explained that in the last 20 years of interventions, the Fund had never presented itself for self-evaluation or examination, adding that the impact assessment to be undertaken was a contemporary phenomenon for reviewing and assessing progress made by any organisation.
He said this was important to the Fund as it would reveal the strength, weakness, progress, challenges and windows of opportunities for it to improve on its service delivery to its beneficiary institutions.
ALSO READ: Noodles maker, Tolaram, wins China’s $1bn support to build biggest port in Lagos
“We at TETFund, are determined to maintain our status as one of the most visible, impactful and relevant intervention agencies that have become a model in Africa,” he said.
Bogoro recalled that the monumental decay in the education sector at the various levels of Primary, Secondary and tertiary, which led to agitation by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for government to address the situation culminated in the establishment of the then Education Trust Fund (ETF) in 1999.
“In 2011, the Fund was refocused to intervene in public tertiary institutions defined by TETFund Act 2011 as public ‘universities, polytechnics and colleges of education’ because ETF was overburdened and overstretched and could only render palliative support to all levels of public educational institutions in Nigeria.
“The decay, rot and dilapidation of facilities did not abate as the funds were thinly spread. You will agree with me that with the focus on tertiary education institutions, some meaningful progress has been made by the Fund over the years,” he said.
Co-Chairman of the 62-member committee, Prof. Nazifi Darma, in his remark disclosed that TETFund has injected over N1.5 trillion in the public tertiary institutions across the country.
He said the Fund has impacted tremendously on public tertiary institutions in Nigeria, saying it was remarkable that TETFund has no abandoned project in all the beneficiary institutions.
He appealed to the heads of benefiting tertiary institutions to give necessary support to members of the committee during their visit to their institutions by providing relevant information and logistical support.
and then