Nigerian Universities Get N916m Each ...N661m For Polytechnics

A lifeline has been thrown the way of Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

According to the Minister Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, N912 million will be given to each University, N661 million for each Polytechnic and N581 million for each College of Education.

“This year, each university is receiving the sum of N912 million in normal intervention, each polytechnic is receiving the sum of N661 million while each college of education is receiving the sum of N581 million,’’ Shekarau said.

Shekarau, who was speaking at the two-day TETFund Annual Strategic Planning Workshop in Abuja, said the amount disbursed " increased by 41 per cent for universities, 49 per cent for polytechnics and 48 per cent for colleges of education" in comparison with last year's allocation.

The Minister advised that the intervention fund be applied to projects that directly add value to teaching and learning, postgraduate training for academic staff, research and scholarly publications.

It will be recalled that in late August, Lagos State University (LASU) Vice Chancellor, Professor John Obafunwa said funds, expected from TETFund will used to rehabilitate infrastructure at the institution.

(TETFund was established as an intervention agency in 2011 to manage, disburse and monitor the education tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria for the infrastructure development but the over N100 billion fund has been largely left unutilized.