The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) has approved the sum of N99.3 million for scholars to carry out critical research at Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor Babatola Ayodele, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on Monday ahead of the 29th convocation ceremony. He stated that TETfund found the proposals submitted by scholars at the university worthy and approved the amount for the research projects.
Ayodele revealed that the university, under his leadership in the last eight months, has witnessed tremendous growth and progress in line with the core mandates of the institution, with 92 programmes of the university receiving 83.5 per cent full accreditation status.
He announced that no fewer than 16,446 students would be graduating from the university during the convocation ceremony scheduled for 28th and 29th March 2025 across different programmes, with 200 finishing with First Class honours for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 academic sessions.
The Vice-Chancellor disclosed that the Senate Leader and lawmaker representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele; the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr Zacch Adedeji; and the Board Chairman of the Bank of Industry, Dr Mansur Muhtar, will be honoured with honorary degrees.
According to him, the trio, in their private and public lives over the last few years, have demonstrated unwavering commitment to the development of society, especially the education sector, hence the recognition by the university.
Ayodele commended the state governor and visitor to the institution, Biodun Oyebanji, for his commitment to the development of the university, including the increase of the monthly subvention from N260 million to N410 million.
Lamenting that the institution’s monthly wage bill is N820 million, the Vice-Chancellor appealed to the state governor to further increase the subvention to enable the university to meet its responsibilities of producing quality graduates and contributing to societal development.
“Despite our meagre resources, the university, under my leadership, will strive to project the image of our university in a positive direction with the support of the Governor and Visitor to the university, as well as our dynamic Governing Council.
“The governor has been doing well for us, especially with the increase in the subvention, which has enabled us to meet our responsibilities in clearing the backlog of salaries and other obligations. However, we plead with the governor to increase it further because we have an N820 million wage bill monthly. We will use the funds effectively towards the advancement of the institution,” he said.
He assured stakeholders, especially parents, that measures are being put in place to introduce more programmes and courses in line with global demands to make graduates more competitive and relevant.
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