Agric, medical schools get N47b FG intervention fund

*As govt unveils startup grants for varsity students

The Federal Government has allocated the sum of N47 billion to support Universities of Agriculture and medical schools across the country.

Specifically, while Universities of Agriculture will receive N30 billion, with each institution getting N1 billion to establish mechanized farms, 18 medical schools will receive N17 billion to train healthcare professionals, including medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses.

This comes as the Nigerian government has finalized arrangements to provide startup grants to university students, aimed at supporting their entrepreneurial endeavours.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa stated this in Abuja on Tuesday at a meeting with Pro-Chancellors of federal universities.

Dr. Alausa emphasized that the intervention fund allocated to universities of agriculture will play a significant role in enhancing food security nationwide.

The Minister noted that by supporting these institutions, the fund aims to boost agricultural productivity, ultimately contributing to the country’s food security.

His words: “Every university that has faculty of agriculture, we now want you to set up your own mechanized farming and livestock production. And we have put aside about N30 billion for that.

“We will give you N1 billion. You will have to apply for N1 billion to set up your mechanized farming in these universities. This President, one of his first pillars in his priority area is food security. We want you as the people that build our future, the education system, build value of future and freedom and opportunities.

“We want you to start using your power, your position to create opportunities for attainment. We are also working with TETFund. As I said, we are focusing on STEMM.

“We have identified about N17 billion of the high impact with TETFUND. Our special high impact projects to 18 universities. This will be directly focused on medical schools to specifically train doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses.

“Eighteen (18) of the universities will share that N17 billion. But we want you to focus on these four categories of courses. For doctors, pharmacists, dentists, and nurses”.

The Minister expressed concern over the trend of specialized universities venturing into academic programmes beyond their areas of expertise.

He specifically mentioned examples where Universities of Agriculture are offering courses in Accounting, and Universities of Technology are rendering Insurance programmes.

This development, he lamented, is a deviation from their core mandates.

According to him, over 1 million job opportunities exist in emerging technologies, including 300,000 jobs in cloud computing, 300,000 jobs in machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), 250,000 jobs in natural language processing among others.

The Minister stressed the need for Governing Councils and management of universities to work in a collaborative manner, with mutual respect and dignity.

“Although your role is not to interfere in the day-to-day running of the universities, which is the purview of the Vice-Chancellors, but you are representatives of the President and the ministry with the mandate to provide robust supervision and oversight to ensure these institutions are run properly according the law.

“In this role, the ministry will support you to create an enabling environment for the universities to function effectively and efficiently. The budgets of your institutions and the Procument processes should be approved and supervised by your councils according to extant rules guiding these processes,” he stated.

On his part, Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities (CPCNFU) and Pro-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Yayale Ahmed, said the event was an opportunity to reflect on their roles, share innovative ideas, and forge strategies that will enhance the governance and management of universities.