Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has announced the agency’s readiness to prioritise completion of all abandoned projects in the nation’s universities.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day seminar for Desk Officers on TETFund intervention programmes in beneficiary institutions, Echono said 175 distressed projects, sponsored by the fund, are in various institutions of higher learning in the country.
Echono said the development was due to the attitude of some heads of the institutions, who stopped work on projects initiated by their predecessors.
“We are giving priority to abandoned projects across the nation’s universities, and we are doing that this year and the next. I am advising heads of these institutions not to jettison inherited structures and projects. Some of them abandoned some projects because they were not the initiators.
“We are learning a wrong lesson from our political environment. Now, on campuses, we have caucuses, and when a new man comes in, he brings in his own people. Sometimes, in doing this, expertise, competence and other virtues are abandoned. I will advise that heads of institutions should appoint people who will add value to the system.
“Among the abandoned projects, there are some that require some little work and we are good to go. Many of such are to be inaugurated in the next one or two weeks, while some are not like that and the contracts may have to be determined,” he stated.
Fielding questions on the new library project at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) which has been abandoned for over five years, Echono said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) would have to intervene.
He stated: “The UNILAG library project was awarded by the FEC and for anything to be done, FEC would have to revisit the matter. If it is found out that the contractor is incompetent, then the contract could be determined. But if he is competent to handle it, he could be given more funds to finish it.”
Speaking on scholarship awards to scholars Echono assured that no scholar would be left stranded.
He said: “We won’t allow our scholars to be stranded. We are doing everything possible to assist them. When most of them were going a few years back, a dollar was about N480, but now, the rate has gone up. Also, the cost of living has gone high globally too. People we gave $1,000 to as living expenses allowance now need about $1,500. To guard against such in the future, we are going to change the pattern of our scholarship awards. We will make it 30 per cent foreign and 70 per cent local,” Echono said.
On her part, the Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University of Education, (LASUED), Ijanikin, Prof Bidemi Lafiaji-Okuneye, lauded the agency for saving higher education from collapse.
“Though we are a new university and yet to benefit from the fund, TETFund is doing a great job in our institutions. We are also using this medium to give the assurance that anytime we are listed by the fund, we are going to make judicious use of the resources given to us”.
