Prioritise local training, TETFund advises varsities, others

Union urges COEs to assess FG grant

Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has advised tertiary institutions to concentrate on training their academic staff in Nigeria, rather than overseas.

The Chairman, TETFund Board of Trustees (BoT), Kashim Imam, stated this yesterday, at the Gombe State University (GSU), in reaction to complaints by some lecturers on the rising foreign exchange rate affecting their overseas academic trainings.

He reasoned: “While Ph.D overseas training gulps between N50 million and N60 million for each staff, that of local training for the same degree takes just N3 million.”

SIMILARLY, the President of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education in Nigeria (SSUCOEN), Danladi Misheliza, has charged Colleges of Education in the country to access TETFund grants to develop and advance the cause of their institutions.

Misheliza gave the charge on Tuesday at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Okene, Kogi State, during his tour of the institution to assess the level of project execution, after monitoring the SSUCOEN election in the college.

According to him, no tertiary institution in Nigeria can attain the desired infrastructural development and academic excellence without the support from TETFund, lamenting that many COEs in the country are not taking advantage of the fund to develop the staff and students.