VC canvasses special intervention fund for private varsities

For private tertiary institutions operating in the country to cover new grounds, contribute their quota to knowledge advancement in the country at reduced cost, Vice Chancellor, Kwararafa University, Taraba State, Professor Yakubu Aboki Ochefu, is calling for the establishment of a special intervention fund by the Federal Government.

According to him, extending similar services offered by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to public universities to private tertiary institutions, would assist in accelerating the growth of private education in the country.

Ochefu, who spoke at the commissioning of the Rufkatu Asibi Kuru Danjuma e-Library, located in the university premises in Wukari Local Council Area of the state, said such gesture would serve as an elixir to private players, who are striving hard to complement government’s efforts at redefining education, which many see as a “ prime mover of society.

Citing the Nigerian movie industry, better known as “Nollywood, the airline, automobile, and textile industries, small and medium scale enterprises that the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has in the past provided special intervention funds for, Ochefu said such gesture, extended to private higher education, would further boost education standard of the country.

“Such a fund,” he said, “will enable resource-challenged institutions like us to access credit at concessionary rates, and help reduce our cost of providing service.
Though existing law bars TETFund from extending a helping hand to private universities financially, the stressed the need for the fund to allow private universities to access research grants on their own rather than the current practice of pairing them with public institutions.

He called on former Minister of Defense, General Theophilus Danjuma, to draw the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to the appeal in view of what education in the country stands to gain.

The e-library, which was named after the late mother of General Danjuma, has a seating capacity of about 300. It has 10,000 books (in hard copies), journals and other publications, and “it gives access to 1.5 million publications from globally recognised channels such as science direct, EbscoHost and AJOL etc,” the VC stated.

Apart from the financial problems confronting the university, which has relocated to its permanent site in the same council area, the Ochefu expressed optimism that the much desired dream of the institution would be actualised hence the need for the people of the community, the local council area and the state to contribute their quota to its growth.Impressed by the rapid growth of the university, Gen. Danjuma, made a pledge of N200m to the institution.