TETFund inaugurates multimillion naira projects at FUTMinna

THE Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, has inaugurated the multi-million naira Phase II Complex building for the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology at Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, Niger State.

Baffa, while commissioning the edifice, which is one of the intervention projects of TETFund in the University, said he was delighted with the quality and size of the projects, as it met the expectation and specification of the Fund.

He insisted that the era where universities and other tertiary institutions used the intervention fund from TETFund to build matchbox structures was over, saying the agency was poised to help tertiary institutions to put in place iconic structures that would not only boost the self-esteem of the students but ensure that campuses of Nigerian universities boast of structures that could compare with what is obtainable in other countries of the world.

According to him, “We are happy that the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology is completed. We are also excited at the size, the quality of the finishing. We believe that this will help in no small ways in expanding the access and in providing space for more students that are going to study agriculture and agricultural technology and such other related courses.

“This is in keeping with one of our core mandate of providing essential infrastructure for teaching and learning as I have  said time and again, we are so interested in seeing beneficiary institutions putting in place, iconic structures that are beautiful, that are useful with very high utility value and that are very qualitative in finishing,” he said.

Dr. Baffa further explained that the resolve of TETFund to vigorously pursue its strategic mandate of providing essential infrastructure for teaching and learning was in keeping to the promise made by President Muhammadu Buhari of ensuring quality education at all levels as well as the provision in the Ministerial Strategic Plan of expanding access to higher education.

Vice-Chancellor, FUT Minna, Professor Abdullahi Bala, said that without the intervention efforts of the TETFund most public higher institutions in the country would had been in shambles, saying TETFund has been the only major source of funding for capital projects in the institutions across the country.