Amid concerns of under-funding of public educational
institutions in Nigeria, the Federal Government has decried the
inability of most universities and technical institutions to access
research grants of over N7.8 billion from the Tertiary Education Trust
Fund (TETFund).
Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, who made this disclosure in Abuja, Thursday, said it was lamentable that the trend persists within the academic community despite the fact that research work ought to remain the cardinal objective of tertiary institutions the world over.
He said out of the allocation of over N10.052 billion to universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for institution-based research in 2014, over N7 billion was still lying fallow at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“Between 2009 to 2014, the sum of N5.005 billion was allocated to public universities through TETFund for sponsorship of institution-based research, while the sums of N2.541 billion and N2.056 billion allocated to polytechnics and colleges of education respectively are yet to be fully accessed as at October 2014.
“Over 70 percent of these allocated funds are still un-accessed; this trend is not acceptable and does not show seriousness on the part of stakeholders responsible to change the fortunes of our tertiary institutions,” he said.
Shekarau stated this at the public presentation of 20 specialised textbooks published under the TETFund National Book Development fund intervention.
Chairman, Board of Trustee of TETFund, Musa Babayo, said the intervention agency has always shown commitment to the development of physical and intellectual infrastructure of public institutions in the country.
He noted that over 100 professional journals have been published through the intervention agency in the past few years.
According to Babayo, over 30,000 projects have been executed nationwide with none abandoned either by the institutions or the intervention agency.
“The fund in the last four years has embarked on numerous projects across the country and also delivered over 30,000 projects nationwide,” he said.
- Daily Independent
Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, who made this disclosure in Abuja, Thursday, said it was lamentable that the trend persists within the academic community despite the fact that research work ought to remain the cardinal objective of tertiary institutions the world over.
He said out of the allocation of over N10.052 billion to universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for institution-based research in 2014, over N7 billion was still lying fallow at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“Between 2009 to 2014, the sum of N5.005 billion was allocated to public universities through TETFund for sponsorship of institution-based research, while the sums of N2.541 billion and N2.056 billion allocated to polytechnics and colleges of education respectively are yet to be fully accessed as at October 2014.
“Over 70 percent of these allocated funds are still un-accessed; this trend is not acceptable and does not show seriousness on the part of stakeholders responsible to change the fortunes of our tertiary institutions,” he said.
Shekarau stated this at the public presentation of 20 specialised textbooks published under the TETFund National Book Development fund intervention.
Chairman, Board of Trustee of TETFund, Musa Babayo, said the intervention agency has always shown commitment to the development of physical and intellectual infrastructure of public institutions in the country.
He noted that over 100 professional journals have been published through the intervention agency in the past few years.
According to Babayo, over 30,000 projects have been executed nationwide with none abandoned either by the institutions or the intervention agency.
“The fund in the last four years has embarked on numerous projects across the country and also delivered over 30,000 projects nationwide,” he said.
- Daily Independent
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