FG seeks funding option for NMC, other inter-university centres

The federal government has stated that it is exploring funding options for the nation’s four Inter-university Centres to enhance their training and research capabilities.

Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, made this known during an interactive session on Wednesday with the Chief Executive Officers of the Centers in Abuja.

Director of Press and Best Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Ben Bem Goong, in a statement, said that Mamman indicated that he would open a line of dialogue between the Ministry, the Centers, and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund with a view to bringing the inter-varsity centres within the funding envelope of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The Minister also appealed to public and private universities nationwide to patronize the centres for their training programs.

The four inter-varsity centres are the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), the National Institute for Nigerian Languages, the Nigerian French Language Village, and the Nigerian Arabic Language Centre.

Speaking in the same vein, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, promised that he would interface with his colleagues at the National Assembly to make a case for improved funding of the nation’s inter-university centres, adding that training and research were key to national development.

Addressing the Ministers, the Chief Executives of the Centers complained of inadequate funding, low patronage, the inability of their academic staff to rise to professorial chairs due to statutory constraints, as well as poor and dilapidated infrastructure.

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