TETFund Allocates N912m to Each Federal University in 2014

TETFund Allocates N912m to Each Federal University in 2014

Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has allocated N912 million to each public university in Nigeria in 2014, up from N303 million in 2010.

The fund also allocated N661million to public polytechnics in 2014 up from N180m in 2010, while public Colleges of Education received N581million in 2014 up from N157 million in 2010.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, presented these figures at the public presentation of a document, ‘Consolidating the Transformation in the Education Sector: A Strategy- July 2014-May 2015,’ in Abuja on Monday.

He also disclosed that the intervention fund to states to support the Universal Basic Education programme was over N240 billion.

High impact interventions, Shekarau said, have also seen selected universities receiving N3 billion each while polytechnics and colleges of education received N1billion to support their development as centres of excellence.

Shekarau berated those he said see nothing good in Nigeria’s education sector.

“Out of the 19 universities who won the World Bank grant for research, 10 are from Nigeria, and each of them is to receive $8million each. So how can anyone say nothing good is happening in Nigeria?,” he said.

The minister also disclosed that as part of the strategies to ensure development in the sector, the ministry is adopting the approach of engaging unions and teachers before industrial actions happen.

“Paying salaries regularly is not a favour. What other incentives do we have to offer for job satisfaction? We need to restore the respect for teachers, and provide what would improve the quality of teaching,” Shekarau said.

At the basic education level, over 600,000 teachers from across the country have participated in diverse training programmes, while over 9,000 lecturers from public tertiary institutions have benefited from scholarship programmes from masters to doctorate levels, the minister revealed.

In another development, the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology have commenced moves to enhance collaboration over research by tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Speaking at the inauguration of a committee to oversee the cooperation,  the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie said the commission needs to regulate and ensure quality control in MoU signed between universities and  research parastatals under the science and technology ministry.

He added that as there is a thin divide between both bodies, it is also necessary to jointly devise mechanisms to monitor the implementation of such MoUs.

The committee is also tasked with fashioning out a national research and development agenda, and develop modalities for commercialisation of research and development results from tertiary institutions and the ministry.

Source: This Day Live