The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has committed a total sum N7, 879, 432,390 to intervention projects at the College of Education (COE)Akwanga, Nasarawa State, from inception.
The Minister of Environment, Muhammed Abdullahi disclosed this on Thursday while commissioning three newly-completed TETFund projects at the college of education in Akwanga.
Abdullahi said the interventions were on infrastructure, academic staff development, and content, among others.
On academic staff development, he said the fund had sponsored 108 lecturers from the college for Ph.D degrees, 179 for Masters Degrees, in both foreign and local institutions totaling N799,570,466, while 119 staff were sponsored to attend conferences, totaling N150, 925,069.
The minister stated that the commissioning of three iconic projects sponsored by TETFund were a continuation of the fund’s intervention in the institution, adding that the three projects were executed at the total sum of N954,804,436.14.
“These projects are: Home Economics Department Complex -N348,466,368.97; Undergraduates Programmes Complex,-N174,759,172.87; School of Education Complex -N434,578,894.30, totalling N954,804,436.14,” he said
He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to education had been undaunted as observed in his recent upward review of the 2 per cent education tax to 3 per cent.
He added that the commissioning of the projects would further enhance teaching and learning in the institution.
Abdullahi expressed Federal Government’s commitment to continuous provision of needed infrastructure for the enhance teaching and learning in the country’s tertiary institutions.
Also speaking, the Nasarawa State Commissioner of Education, Hajiya Fatu Jimaita, said TETFund, through its interventions, had played a remarkable role in the provision of quality education in the country.
Jimaita commended TETFund for the projects and expressed hope that the iconic structures would not only be put to good use but also protected.
On his part, the Provost of the College, Rev. Jonathan Thani, noted the impact of TETFund on all aspects of the college, including staff training, infrastructure, and facilities among others.
While thanking the fund for its projects, Thani called for more interventions from TETFund, lamenting that the college which had over 16,000 students does not have a befitting library, except the old one constructed since 1973.
Responding, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, said the current administration had invested heavily on infrastructure in its over seven years of existence to aid teaching and learning in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Represented by the TETFund Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Babatunde Olajide, he said the fund’s interventions across tertiary institutions were carried out in line with enabling laws.
Echono noted that government’s commitment to the intervention was its attestation to the fact that it desire to have the nation’s tertiary institutions well ranked globally.
He charged the management of the institution to commit the buildings to good use and ensure maintenance of the structures for the advancement of learning in the college.
