Chidimma UCHEGBU
Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State has appealed for more Tertiary Education Trust Funds (TETFund) intervention projects at Yusuf Maitama Sule University and Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil.
The governor, who made the appeal on Monday in Abuja during a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, stressed the need for a robust collaboration between Kano government and the Fund to ensure improved education delivery.
“The purpose of my coming (to TETFund) is to ensure continued collaboration between Kano government and TETFund in terms of projects and other educational assistance to these two universities (Yusuf Maitama Sule University and Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil), of course, my predecessor established the third university in the state but as far we are concerned, these two universities are closed to our heart,” Governor Yusuf said.
While commending TETFund for its various infrastructure projects in tertiary institutions across the country, the governor specifically called for TETFund’s support in the two universities in the areas of provision of more facilities, training and retraining of staff as well as flood control in Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil.
“Firstly, we are here to thank the management for those intervention programmes and projects being executed in the two universities.
“Specifically I am more interested in infrastructure development, why because if you do not have classrooms, you don’t have hostels, you don’t have libraries or facilities then the entire system will collapse, so the most important thing as far as university or any other tertiary education institution is concerned is to ensure the provision of infrastructures.
“If you look at most universities in the country, without the support of TETFund they won’t be where they are today in terms of educational facilities.
“Number two, I am more concerned about the training and retraining of the staff of the universities. TETFund has been assisting in areas of training and retraining,” he said.
On his part, the TETFund’s Executive Secretary, who congratulated Governor Yusuf on his victory in the March 2023 gubernatorial election, said the Fund was ready to partner with the Kano government to improve the fortunes of tertiary education institutions in the state.
Echono described Kano as not only the centre of commerce but also that of learning with over a dozen universities in the state.
Clarifying the governor’s request for the two universities instead of the whole three owned by the state government, Echono said TETFund’s Board of Trustees, has put a limit on the number of institutions the Fund can intervene in a state.
“TETFund intervenes in three institutions within a state; that is the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“The Board of Trustees, in order to ensure we concentrate resources and achieve meaningful impact, placed limitations on the number of institutions.
“So, we do not encourage states to just establish multiple institutions with only the intention of targeting TETFund intervention. It actually enlists two similar types of institutions at a time, and even when we enlist two institutions at a time; what I mean is either two universities or two polytechnics or two colleges of education.
“In order, to meet the provision of our law that talks about equality of states, to ensure we do not favour one particular state over the order. States that have more than one institution – that have two, actually, alternate them, meaning if this school get this year, the following year, the other one gets. Even the state that has one institution still gets the same amount because the institution will be getting it every year while the others will be alternating it.
“A three-way alternation is not acceptable to the Board of Trustees and that is why we have made that clear to the state governments that if you want to pick the third one, you need to drop one of the first two to be able to admit it,” he stated.
