Echono, who disclosed this while delivering the 34th convocation lecture of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, said these challenges are responsible for the rot and infrastructural decay in the institutions.
Speaking on the topic: ‘TETFund and educational development in Nigeria: The history, treasures and the future,’ Echono lamented that lecture halls, hostels, and other teaching and learning facilities have been overstretched with the fast-growing population in public universities nationwide.
Despite the modest achievements of the agency, Echono said there are still many intervention demands.
According to him, about 152,838 infrastructural projects had been implemented by the agency across the country’s public tertiary institutions from 2013 till date.
Besides, he stated that TETFund had equally offered scholarships to over 42,000 scholars across institutions in Nigeria, both locally and overseas.
“These include infrastructural projects across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, ranging from Senate buildings, classrooms, lecture theatres, ICT centres, laboratories, and libraries, among others.”
He announced plans by the agency to build hostels for 72 institutions through the public private partnership initiative, while also providing alternative power to tertiary institutions under the 2025 disbursement cycle to reduce excessive billing and address electricity challenges in the various institutions.
Echono said: “TETFund will continuously strive to attain the status of a world-class education interventionist agency and a financial backbone for educational research efforts in Nigeria.
“It will endeavour to make educational content development a strong complement to the infrastructural development that has been witnessed in the past decades. Its commitment to research and development, innovation, and commercialisation of research products will remain unwavering.”
