By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
The Vice-Chancellor, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, has made a passionate appeal for the continued existence of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to support the development of tertiary education in Nigeria.
Prof. Agboola noted that TETFund had become inevitable as a significant intervention agency for universities and other tertiary education institutions and should not be scrapped or underfunded due to the birth of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
He made the submission in his remarks when he received the Chairman, South-West Zone of TETFund Board of Trustees, Hon. Sunday Adepoju, who led a delegation on a familiarisation and project inspection visit to the University recently.
The Vice-Chancellor said both TETFund and NELFUND should run simultaneously rather than allowing one to kill the other.
According to him, the TETFund is a force to reckon with in Nigeria’s educational landscape and its various interventions have been instrumental in addressing key challenges facing the country’s tertiary institutions.
He faulted the calls in certain quarters for the scrapping of TETFund as a result of the emergence of NELFUND, arguing that such would be counterproductive in the long run.
Prof. Agboola contended that with the existence of both agencies, the attrition rate of students in varsities would be reduced while infrastructural development in those institutions would also be increased.
He said, “I want to say that without TETFund, maybe many universities will not be in existence. TETFund has been very significant virtually in all the development of this University, they also train academic staff for their PhDs. In fact, I’m one of the beneficiaries of TETFund because my PhD was sponsored by TETFund at the University of Nottingham.”
“I am also aware that a couple of our colleagues make use of TETFund for conferences’ attendance and training. Virtually all the buildings we have and in all our satellite campuses, if you take away the philanthropists and the alumni donations, the rest are TETFund and Needs Assessment. My plea is that NELFUND should not replace TETFund and the funds being allocated to TETFund should also not be reduced.”
“If you give more money to NELFUND for student loans and the student does not have anywhere to sit, it would be another kettle of fish. In this University, you can have 35,000 students applying every year and there is only a quota of 7,000. Most of the teaching aids that we have come from interventions from TETFund. So, if government decides to reduce the funds being allocated to TETFund and give it to NELFUND, I think government needs to look at it again.”
“No nation will develop better than the products of its universities. If we bring more students into the university and there are no facilities, it won’t be a good development. So, it will be better for us to have the two agencies simultaneously.”
The Vice-Chancellor noted that OOU had judiciously utilised funds allocated for TETFund projects in the institution, calling for more interventions of the agency to move the University forward.
Prof. Agboola also used the opportunity of the visit to appeal to the Federal Government for urgent reconsideration of its stance on cancellation of overseas training for Nigerian scholars.
In his post-inspection debrief, Hon. Adepoju said his visit was aimed at familiarising the Board of Trustees with some of the ongoing and completed projects of TETFund in the University.
He commended OOU and its Management for adequate utilisation of funds and implementation of TETFund projects, stressing that taxpayer’s money had been put into good use in the state-owned institution.
His words: “We have come, we have seen and we will make our informed decision. With what we have seen so far, TETFund has done greatly for you in this University and you are making effective use of the physical infrastructure given to you. We are very pleased and if there is opportunity for TETFund to do more, it will be done.
“You have shown that taxpayer’s money is being put into use and by the grace of God, it would be the beginning of more to come from TETFund. I am happy that you are not having any abandoned project and you are not having any unaccessed fund. That shows the quality of the Management this University have. As we have been told, some Managements of institutions delay the payment of money to contractors, thereby causing inflation to the projects. That has not been the case in OOU.”
