The last three years would be remembered by the leadership of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) as those it played host to several state governors over infrastructural and manpower interventions in public tertiary institutions.

Although Arc. Sonny Echono’s administration as the Executive Secretary of the Fund did not mark the beginning of such visit; it however witnessed an influx of state administrators, who possibly have heard about the prompt attention received by their colleagues or have witnessed interventions in Federal Government institutions located in their respective states, and had expected similar gestures in their schools.

The hallmark of their courtship with the Fund, however, was its ability to rise to the occasion through prompt interventions. This has endeared the Fund and its leadership, not only to the August visitors but to all well-meaning Nigerians as constantly buttressed through commendations and eulogies for the Fund under its current leadership.

During a courtesy visit by one of the earliest governors after Echono’s appointment, Professor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, the Executive Secretary recalled the Fund’s sustained commitment in terms of infrastructure development and enhancement of staffers’ capacities for improved teaching and learning.

“In Anambra, you will see a lot of our presence but I admit that at the level of state institutions, we need to do more. TETFund has put in place mechanisms through specialised training to ensure that Nigerian graduates are easily employable.

“The Fund has trained over 35,000 academic staff in Masters and Ph.D programmes, while Centres of Excellence across the country are churning out cutting-edge research to meet Nigeria’s developmental needs,” he said.

Soludo, like other governors who came after him, had gone to solicit partnership and collaboration that would bridge their states’ educational deficit.

Acknowledging that the Fund had done a lot considering the limited resources at its disposal, Soludo believed that such collaboration would bring about a more robust impact in projects execution in the state.

“We have a big dream, a big agenda to partner with you and other critical stakeholders to ensure we achieve desired results when it comes to TETFund projects.

“The Federal Government is a very critical player in the field of education and as we know, education is on the concurrent list. The only way we can make it work for ourselves is to work together through collaboration, coordination and cooperation.

“I will like us to work together in several areas that we are interested in, so that in some years to come, we should be able to say that through partnership with TETFund, we were able to deliver on a number of projects,” he said.

The governor further harped on the fact that the three state-owned tertiary institutions in his state – Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra Polytechnic and College of Education – were in urgent need for more intervention projects from the Fund.

The visit of governors to the Fund’s Headquarters in Abuja has been sustained and the Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, closed the year 2024 when he joined his counterparts in commending the management of the Fund for its role in the development of public tertiary educational institutions in the country.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to Echono recently to seek the support of the Fund for the state’s newly established University of Education and Entrepreneurship, Out admitted that the Fund’s insignia was visible in all beneficiary institutions across the country.

He stated that the new university, which he described as first-of-its-kind in the country, was converted from the state-owned College of Education and was expected to train students in practical skills such as bricklaying, welding and carpentry, among others.

He said:  “We are here today to put it on record that you have been doing well, and we do need your help and support. Nigeria has a very big problem, apart from the fact that other entities and realms have moved beyond in terms of education.

“I said so because we continue to produce thousands of graduates that are not employable, and we also agree that most times, the things that you study in school are not what you practice outside.

“Actually, we are upgrading the College of Education to a University of Education and Entrepreneurship. This is going to be the first one in the country and that is the reason we are here, soliciting genuine and strong support.

“We want every student that graduates from this university to be able to have at least, two skills and be able to defend two theses – one in education and the other one in the skills acquired,” he stated.

Responding, Echono commended Otu for his initiative in establishing the specialised university and his efforts in the overall development of the state.

Accepting that there was a need for curriculum review and delivery system to ensure that graduates produced in Nigerian institutions not only have requisite skills but become global citizens that can work anywhere in the world, Echono pledged continued execution of the Fund’s mandate in line with the available resources.