Stakeholders in the education sector across North-East Nigeria have called on President Bola Tinubu to increase the allocation of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to enable it to do more for tertiary institutions.
The stakeholders spoke at a three-day town hall meeting in Jalingo, Today.
They commended the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda and its reforms in the education sector.
Alhaji Sani Abubakar, former Taraba acting governor and member of the TETFund Board, highlighted recent interventions of the fund, ranging from academic staff training to infrastructural development.
Abubakar noted that thousands of lecturers have benefitted from PhD and master’s scholarships locally and abroad, while TETFund has continued to provide support for teaching practice, conferences, and professional development.
According to him, the fund’s interventions have also transformed campuses with modern lecture theatres, laboratories, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres, and student hostels.
The former acting governor further listed projects such as zonal research laboratories, centres of excellence, medical simulation facilities, agricultural demonstration farms, and innovation hubs established across universities and polytechnics.
He disclosed that under the 2025 intervention cycle, N70 billion has been earmarked for mini-grid power projects to provide stable and renewable electricity in 18 institutions.
The North-East Zone, he added, has benefited significantly from these interventions, with projects spread across the University of Maiduguri, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Gombe State University, Taraba State University, and several polytechnics and colleges of education.
He urged participants to develop a blueprint that would consolidate the gains and further strengthen the country’s education system.
He stressed that progress in the sector required collaboration between government, institutions, industries and host communities.
In his paper presentation on the challenges of tertiary institutions in Nigeria, Dr Isa Muhammed of Taraba State University said TETFund needed more funding to make Nigeria’s tertiary institutions meet global standards.
Muhammed noted that the major challenge of Nigerian institutions has been inadequate funding by the owners.
The paper presenter stated that the contributions of the TETFund to the infrastructural development in the tertiary institutions could not be overemphasised.
“If you remove TETFund from Nigeria’s tertiary institutions today, what you will have left will be shocking,” he said.
Prof. Umar Pate, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State, said TETFund has funded numerous projects in the institution and others to improve the standard of education in the country.
Pate noted that though the Tinubu administration has increased funding to TETFund, an upward review would take tertiary institutions to the promised land.
