Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, on Tuesday revealed intervention funds set aside to aid Nigerian higher institutions to improve infrastructure and meet up with global standards.
Announcing this in Abuja at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, FUPRE, Effurun Roundtable Meeting, Chairman Board of Trustees, TETFUND, Kashim Ibrahim, disclosed that Universities, Polytechnic and Colleges of Education will receive N900m, N800m, and N700m respectively.
He also disclosed that FUPRE will receive an N3bn intervention fund to support “Infrastructure, Scholarships, Research” and other pressing needs.
“Our budget this year is N300bn and it has been fully funded. In the past this would be considered a luxury, but with the advent of Covid-19, it is now a necessity,” he added.
Vice-Chancellor of FUPRE, Prof. Akpofure Rim-Rukah, in his remarks, noted that the University was established to be the “premier international institution with state-of-the-art facilities to provide for the petroleum and allied sectors, world-class education, training, research, consultancy and extension services”.
He however decried “situational” obstacles which he listed as insufficient power supply, infrastructure deficiency, and weak ICT capacity as drawbacks to achieving its objectives.
“The Nigerian experience has largely been a case of exclusive funding of public universities by the federal government which in the light of contemporary reality, is no longer sustainable.
“To attain projected educational benchmarks, there is an urgent need to build partnerships with reputable public-spirited individuals, corporate bodies, national and multi-national organizations to widen sources of funding for education,” he added.
In his address, Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba called on stakeholders to invest in FUPRE, adding that the federal government would lend its support to the institution towards achieving its goals.
“A country like Nigeria is advised by UNESCO to allocate at least 20 percent of its budget to education, but so far, this has not been met,” he said.