Daud Olatunji
The hope of the owners of private universities in Nigeria has been dashed as the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Dr. Sonny Echono, clarified why private universities are ineligible to benefit from the intervention programmes of TETFUND.
Speaking at the 34th convocation ceremony of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Echono addressed over 6,000 graduating students, outlining the fund’s limitations and objectives.
While fielding questions from newsmen, Echono said TETFUND’s role is to subsidize education costs, particularly for vulnerable segments of society, and investing in private universities could inadvertently encourage fee hikes across the board.”
He added “as the current state of the law requires, TETFUND intervenes in public universities. The argument against these universities (private) is the fact that they charge a higher level of fees than public ones.
“Therefore, TETFUND is coming in as part of a subsidy, as part of the government’s contribution to easing the cost of education and making it more affordable for the lower and vulnerable segments of society.
“ By the time we begin investing in them, there would be clamor by the public universities to charge the same type of fees, and we have to avoid that.
Speaking on the challenge of energy, Echono emphasized the government’s commitment to supporting public universities amidst energy challenges.
“Under President’s major intervention programmes, we are addressing critical issues like high energy costs that have threatened the operational stability of many institutions,” he explained.
“This initiative, in collaboration with the African Development Bank and the Rural Electrification Agency, aims to implement sustainable energy solutions such as CNG and solar power.”
“We cannot transform everything overnight, but starting this year, we will systematically enhance the energy resilience of our universities,” he assured.
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