Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari launched six Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) projects worth over N1 billion on Friday in the state of Ekiti in an effort to improve teaching and learning at three universities across the nation.
The Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science, and Technology, Ikere Ekiti; Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti; and Federal University, Oye Ekiti, are among the institutions anticipated to gain from the N995.6 million projects in Ekiti State.
At the projects’ inauguration in Ikere, Ado, and Oye, Ekiti, represented by the minister of industry and trade, Adeniyi Adebayo, Buhari declared: “The commissioning of these projects today at the universities would in no small measure further enhance teaching and learning and improve academic standards.
The president claimed that TETFund, with the assistance of the Federal Government, had excelled in providing tertiary institutions with facilities and support for the training and development of academic personnel, among other things.
In order to make our educational institutions competitive on a worldwide scale for the country’s economic and technological development, he pledged ongoing support.
Sonny Echono, the executive secretary of the TETFund, stated that the projects’ completion and commissioning demonstrated effective use of resources provided by the Federal Government through the organisation “for the provision of necessary infrastructure to aid teaching, learning, and research, in accordance with the mandate that sets up the Fund.”
Echono, represented by TETFund Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, Babatunde Olajide, expressed the government’s resolve to ensure that tertiary institutions attained high global rankings and became more competitive through the provision of conducive learning environments that would enable scholar students to thrive and excel among their peers.
According to the head of the TETFund, the cost of the Vocation Education Workshop Complex at BOUESTI was N318,000,000; the three projects at FUOYE, including the building and furnishing of Lecture Theatre Block “A” for the Faculty of Science, cost N369.89,000,000; and at EKSU, the Faculty of the Social Sciences Twin Lecture Theatre and Medical Ward for the University Health Centre, cost N306.85,000,000.
“No doubt, the provision of this facility will further enhance the quality of delivery and equip our staff and students with relevant skills that will give them a competitive edge,” said Prof. Olufemi Adeoluwa, Vice Chancellor of BOUESTI, in praising Buhari and TETFund for providing the vocational education workshop for his school.
“TETFund has since inception placed all tertiary institutions in Nigeria on a higher pedestal in terms of physical infrastructure, provision of standard learning facilities, sponsorship of conference attendance, academic staff training and development, library development, ICT interventions, etc.,” Adeoluwa continued.
