TETfund pledges total commitment to delivery of quality education

The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), Dr Abdullahi  Bichi Baffa, has asserted that the commitment of the intervention agency towards ensuring quality of education delivery and improving global competitiveness in Nigeria is total.

The Executive Secretary made the assertion on the at the sensitisation seminar held for TETfund beneficiary institutions at UNICAL Hotel, Calabar.

The Executive Secretary, who was represented by the team leader, Alhaji Umar Mari, disclosed that in the pursuit of achieving its objective, the funding agency tripled the 2016 intervention allocations for the various tertiary education institutions against what was divulged in 2015.

He disclosed that two new intervention lines, project maintenance and ICT support were introduced. The project maintenance, according to him, was to enable institutions renovate dilapidated buildings while the ICT support was for the website upgrade of institutions and specialty training for both teaching and non-teaching staff to enable them attain computer proficiency.

The TETfund helmsman also said that in compliance with the recent decision of the National Council on Education meeting held in Kano, all public tertiary institution should include courses on inclusive education as part of their staff development for TETfund intervention, the agency has tasked beneficiary institutions to factor this decision in their proposals so as to remove barriers that prevent students with physical and learning disability from participating fully in education.

The Executive Secretary used the occasion to roll out the achievements of the fund over the years to include provision and improvement of physical infrastructure in all its 202 benefiting institutions from 2011 to 2017 and allocation of substantial funds to all tertiary institutions for the acquisition of library books and e-library resources for research, teaching and learning.

Other areas of achievements listed by him include the launching of the National Research Fund (NRF) in 2011 with a seed fund of 3 billion naira to support cutting edge research and massive progress in academic staff training and development.

Inspite of the well calculated interventions targeted to bring about a solid foundation for the educational future of Nigeria, the TETfund helmsman lamented that most of the institutions were not conversant with the agency guidelines or its intervention lines leading to poor access to intervention funds.

He said that the sensitisation seminar was, therefore, aimed at enlightening and building effective collaboration with stakeholders with a view to improving access to intervention funds for the improvement of quality of education in Nigeria.

In his welcome address, the vice chancellor, Professor Zana Akpagu, lauded the management of TETfund for the initiative to hold the sensitisation seminar and expressed the optimism that beneficiaries would utilise the benefits that come with the meeting.

The Vice Chancellor, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration, Professor Ndifreke  Udonwa, welcomed the TETfund team and called on them to take good advantage of the hospitality which the city of Calabar offered.

In an earlier remark, the Director of Academic planning, Dr Donald Bette Enu, said the coming of the TETfund team would proffer solutions and provide answers to the several questions and problems often raised over the operations of TETfund.

The event was marked with the presentation of a copy of the TETfund guidelines by the team to the Vice Chancellor and presentation of papers by resource persons from the agency.