The Chairman Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, said the governing board of the agency has approved the release of over N100 billion to tertiary institutions across the country to enhance their capacity to train students on medical science.
Aminu Bello Masari disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Katsina on Sunday.
According to him, the intervention was borne out of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s desire to address the shortage of manpower in the health sector and discourage some from moving out to other countries.
“The President is particularly worried by the trend and how it is affecting the Nigerian healthcare system; he wants to institute measures in place to enable the healthcare system to recover through deliberate policies such as this ongoing intervention by TETFund.
“We have selected three tertiary institutions in each geopolitical zone of the country, with each institution receiving N4 billion to carry out projects and academic expansion specifically to boost their capacity to admit and train students in the field of medical sciences.
“The aim is to double the number of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technicians and other skilled professionals in the healthcare system. This will no doubt enhance healthcare delivery in the country,” he said.
He noted that the Fund has a robust monitoring and evaluation team, which consists of consultants that go round tertiary institutions to ensure that monies are spent on the specific projects and programmes for which they are meant.
The former Katsina state governor explained that, this year, TETFun6d received its highest grant of N1.6 trillion, which accrued from the 3 percent education tax imposed on the profits of companies doing businesses in Nigeria as stipulated by the TETFund Act.
“Out of this amount, 40 percent, representing N460 billion, was earmarked for various interventions across tertiary institutions in the country.
“For the state-level intervention, three institutions were selected in each state, one University, one Polytechnic and one College of Education, to benefit from the intervention.
“The interventions are based on demand, the institutions write to us and we select and approve projects for them based on their needs and based on the resources available,” he said.
Masari disclosed that, out of the N1.65 trillion, N225 billion was released to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), for the federal government students’ loan initiative.
He said another N70 billion was earmarked as energy support to tertiary institutions, noting that the money will be used by the various institutions to build solar or gas power generation facilities.