President Buhari directs TETFund to inject N24bn into 12 new varsities

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday directed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to inject N2 billion into each of the 12 new universities established by the Federal Government in 2011.Buhari, who spoke as a visitor to the maiden convocation of the Federal University, Wukari in Taraba, said that the amount was to fund critical infrastructure in the institutions.

Represented by Dr Bello Kumo, the Director Academic Standards in the National Universities Commission (NUC), the President also directed that each of the institutions should be given additional N2.5 billion in the next two years.

The amount was in addition to the normal N1 billion funding contained in the 2017 fiscal provision.

He said that his administration was ready to support research, training and retraining of staff of the Federal Government-owned tertiary institutions in order to fulfill their mandates of teaching, research and community service.

Buhari warned, “We will not condone corruption and lawlessness in administering the funds that are injected for the development of your institutions.’’

In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Abubakar Kundiri, thanked the President for approving “massive special TETFund intervention for the development of key infrastructure in our university’’.

Kundiri said that the university had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Colorado, Wolverhampton and Manchester to position it as a formidable stronghold of scholarship and research.

He said that the agreement would promote collaborative effort in research, staff training and exchange programmes.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that highlights of the event was the investiture of the Ona of Abaji, Dr Adamu Baba Yunusa, as the Chancellor of the University.

The university also conferred honorary Doctorate Degrees on retired Lt.-Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, the Ona of Abaji and the Aku Uka of Wukari, Dr Shekarau Angyu, for their respective roles in the development of Nigeria.