The significance of a consistent and reliable power supply in Nigeria’s institutions of higher learning cannot be overstated. A steady flow of electricity is essential for creating a conducive learning environment, facilitating academic activities and supporting the entire educational experience.
  
Regular power supply also enables effective teaching and learning, research and innovation, digital literacy and skills development, campus safety and preservation of equipment and resources. It also fosters innovation and ensures a productive learning environment, especially in institutions of higher learning.

In recent times, beneficiary institutions of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) have been in the news for the wrong reasons with regards to perennial power failure.

For instance, from the persistent darkness in the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, the N3.6 billion annual electricity bill incurred by Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, escalating energy bills at University of Benin (UNIBEN), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN),  Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL) to the crippling power outages at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), it has become increasingly clear that lack of reliable energy supply is a pervasive challenge affecting most public tertiary institutions across the country.
  
Worried by this situation, TETFund recently announced moves to launch a targeted initiative known as the Special Intervention. Chairman, Board of Trustees of TETFund, Aminu Masari, disclosed this while inaugurating the Steering Committee for Alternative Energy solution initiative to tertiary institutions
  
Masari emphasised that the initiative aligns with TETFund’s mission to bolster government’s efforts in providing a reliable power supply to tertiary institutions nationwide and ensuring a conducive learning environment that propels academic excellence.
  
He underscored the vital role of consistent power supply in facilitating effective learning and research, noting that the essential component has been sorely lacking in many of the country’s tertiary institutions.

“We all know the combination of many factors, including increase in tariff, which has become unbearable to these institutions,” he said. The committee, which has a member of TETFund Board of Trustees, Sunday Adepoju, as Chairman, was given two months to summit its preliminary report. The panel is also expected to be part of the implementation team.
  
In another development, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has called on TETFund to extend support to its training institutions to enhance the capacity and professionalism of road safety personnel across the country.
  
FRSC Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of the Fund, Arc. Sonny Echono, recently in Abuja.
Mohammed commended TETFund’s impactful intervention projects in tertiary institutions nationwide and emphasised the need for collaboration to reduce road traffic crashes as well as achieve a zero-casualty rate.
 
“We have academic institutions and these institutions were designated in 2023 by an Act to be self-funded outside the budget of Road Safety. But today, we are not able to access funding for these institutions.
  
“So, it was an opportunity for us to come to TETFund, to first, appreciate its management and staff and then, to collaborate towards assisting the institutions with some infrastructure and funding so that we can continue to reduce road crashes on Nigerian roads and have safer mobility wherever citizens of Nigeria go within the country,” he said.
  
The Corps Marshal also revealed the Corps’ ambitious target of reducing road crashes by 50 per cent with zero fatalities, stressing the importance of technology, research and continuous personnel training to achieve the goal.
  
Responding, Echono expressed TETFund’s willingness to collaborate with FRSC, particularly in awareness creation and training of staff to promote safer roads, not only within tertiary institutions but across the country.
  
The TETFund boss also expressed delight on the digital transformation witnessed in FRSC, saying that the move has brought more sanity to roads.
  
“By embracing technology, you were able to spread and even bring some visibility to the work you are doing. The Corps has done a very good job in this regard. It has been widely acknowledged that there is a sharp drop in mortality, both in the rates of accidents and also in consequential mortality.

“TETFund stands poised to collaborate with every agency and organisation in advancing the Nigerian project and stimulating accelerating of development rate in our country. We are willing to explore all the opportunities for partnership, for collaboration, some of which we have highlighted and some of which you have made available to us,” he said.
 
 Admitting that FRSC can leverage on TETFund to reach out to millions of Nigerian students on its road safety awareness programmes, Echono further pledged the Fund’s readiness to provide necessary support for tertiary institutions owned by the Corps, especially those that have relevant certifications. He added that the Fund would also collaborate with the organisation in the area of research.