By Marti Paul Abuja
Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baff a, has assured benefi ting institution of increased allocation in the 2017 intervention year. Baff a, who stated this while on a visit to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) headquarters in Abuja, said this was made possible by the increase President Muhammadu Buhari has also accorded the Fund.
Th e visit, according to a statement, was a move by the two agencies to seal a collaborative deal that would be benefi cial to all Nigerians as far as dissemination of prompt, fair and objective information concerning the activities of the Fund. “In the 2016 allocation, which would be implemented for the 2017 intervention activities, each benefi ciary institution would get triple of what they got for instance in 2015” and which said “is unprecedented and was only achieved with the reversal of some policies and magnanimous approval of the President that paved the way for the Agency stand on its resolve to implement its original mandate to the letter”.
He said with the development, “every benefi ciary institution would be treated based on equality, regardless of geo-political zone, size or year of establishment, and would have allocations enough to carry out developmental projects and for much more scholars to pursue higher degrees to make the desired impact in raising graduates that needed to take Nigeria higher technologically.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank NTA to continue to kindly use your outlet, to express our appreciation to the President and commander-in-chief for approving very big and much budget of change for the tertiary education sector. It is the approval of Mr. President that paved the way for us to be able to give these interventions to these institutions.
Th is is the biggest ever, not because this year we have the biggest ever tax collection, but simply because the priorities have been redefi ned. Th e priorities have been re-arranged. “At the Fund now, our priority is to treat the universities equally, Polytechnics equally and Colleges of Education equally as our establishment Act provided.
Th at allocation should be given based on equality of institutions. And that is why are able to gather a bulk of the resources and allocate them equally to the institutions to get substantial amount. “We are also able to achieve this simply because the old culture of using discretion to give allocation to a few number of institutions to the detriment of others have been stopped. I want to use this opportunity to thank Mr. President and the Honourable Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu for supporting us in ensuring that Special Intervention that was horribly abused in the past is brought to an end.
“Today, what the Fund was established for is what the Fund is doing. What the Fund was asked to do by its Act is what the Fund is pursuing. Th e fi ve core mandate areas are the primary objectives for which the Fund was established, which the present management of TETFund is religiously pursuing”, he added. Director General of NTA, Mallam Yakub Ibn Muhammed in his response, affi rmed the readiness of his organisation to work together for the greater good of the education sector and the nation in general.
“We can assure you of our readiness to work together with you and will do whatever we can to advance this country and education in particular. We will assist TETFund through adequately publicising of your programmes and events, just as we partner with other agencies”, he said.
