The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has released more than N100 billion to selected tertiary institutions to boost their capacity to train students of Medicine and related medical science courses.

The Chairman, TETFUND Governing Board, Aminu Masari, who stated this in an interview with newsmen in Katsina State, said the aim is to boost manpower in the country’s healthcare system.

Masari said the intervention was borne out of President Bola Tinubu’s desire to address the shortage of manpower in the health sector, especially with the exodus of the nation’s medical doctors and related skilled persons to other countries.

He said, “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 recover through deliberate policies such as this ongoing intervention by TETFUND.

“We have selected three tertiary institutions in each geopolitical zone of the country; each institution has received N4 billion to carry out projects and academic expansion, specifically to boost its 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.”

Masari, who was a former governor of the state, said while TETFUND carries out interventions at state and zonal levels each fiscal year, the N100 billion intervention is a high-impact intervention for 2025.

He said TETFUND has a robust monitoring and evaluation team, which consists of consultants who go around tertiary institutions to ensure that monies are spent on the specific projects and programs for which they are meant.

Masari also said that TETFUND received its highest grant of N1.65 trillion for this year, which accrued from the three per cent education tax imposed on the profits of companies doing business in Nigeria as stipulated by the TETFUND Act.

He said out of this amount, 40 per cent, 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.

He further said that out of the N1.65 trillion, N225 billion was released to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), for the federal government’s student 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-powered generation facilities.

The TETFUND Governing Board Chairman also announced that the agency has made provision of N25 billion to assist some tertiary institutions to provide security in their campuses.

“The institutions will use the intervention for various projects that pertain to security such as the installation of street lights within their campuses and other similar projects,” Masari added.