The supervising minister of education, Nyesom Wike, has
identified lack of project implementation capacity in many tertiary
institutions in Nigeria as one of the major challenges facing the federal
government in its effort to change the face of education in the country.
The minister, who spoke at the South West edition of
the stakeholders’ town hall meeting on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund)
intervention, held at Trenchard, University of Ibadan on Thursday, noted that
no other government has funded the nation’s education sector as much as
Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
“The federal government recognizes the importance of
tertiary education in driving development objectives and enhancing global
competitiveness. It is for this reason that critical attention have been paid
by the administration to supporting our tertiary institutions for growth,” he
said.
According to the minister, between 2010 and 2013, the
government has consistently increased allocation to the education sector, adding
that from N234.8 billion it earmarked in 2010, the sector got N437 billion in
2013.
He disclosed that within the same period, the government
also disbursed N125 billion as matching grants to states to support development
of infrastructure and resources in basic education, but, however, regretted
that many of those states do not make available their counterpart funding to
ensure proper takeoff and delivery of projects for which the monies were meant.
Mr. Wike stated further that TETFund has help tremendously
in improving the infrastructure and human resources in tertiary institutions
across the country, urging Nigerians to appreciate this in President Jonathan’s
administration.
Tertiary institutions within the southwest zone took their
turn to present to the audience how much they have benefited from the
intervention funds and the many problems it has helped put behind them.
Some of the projects exhibited include renovation of old
structures and construction of new one, purchase of equipment, local and
overseas training of members of staff among others.
Former minister of information and pro-Chancellor of
University of Lagos, Jerry Gana, lauded the programme.
"I am happy to be here. It is a very good
initiative. At the end of these presentations, those who have done well know
they have done well. Those who did not do well should have realized areas where
they should work on to do better in future. With what we have seen, those who
say the federal government is not doing anything will be very unfair,” he said.
In his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor, University of
Ibadan, Isaac Adewole, remarked that apart from providing the opportunity to
showcase what they had done with government money, the meeting would provide
opportunity for heads of educational institutions to rob minds together and
share ideas for better governance in their respective territories.
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