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From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Stakeholders in tertiary institutions across the South East have called for increased intervention by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in infrastructure, information and communication technology (ICT), security, and other critical areas to meet the growing needs of higher institutions in the region.
They made the call at a community engagement forum organised by TETFund, in collaboration with Alim & Associates, consultants to the Fund, as part of an impact and needs assessment of TETFund interventions in tertiary institutions across the South East.
The forum provided representatives of participating institutions with an opportunity to review a preliminary report prepared from data collected through visits, interviews, questionnaires, and focus group discussions.
Speaking on the exercise, Professor Tony Renish of the University of Nigeria (UNN), who is Deputy National Research Lead and South East Coordinator for data collection, said 22 institutions from Enugu and Ebonyi states were represented at the engagement.
He said the assessment was aimed at determining the impact of previous TETFund interventions, while identifying gaps and outstanding needs requiring further attention. He disclosed that the institutions were presented with the preliminary report to identify areas where information needed to be corrected, updated, or supplemented before the final report.
“We have written a report, and the essence of this community engagement is for representatives of the institutions to review the report, identify the gaps, and discuss the issues, so that the final report will reflect the actual needs of the institutions,” he said.
Also speaking, Team Lead of the Impact and Needs Assessment Project, Professor F.O. Anafi, said the team conducted extensive data gathering across the institutions before preparing the preliminary report. He said the exercise involved questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, project-site visits, and documentation of previous TETFund interventions.
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Anafi said the engagement would enable the institutions to scrutinise the report, correct inaccuracies, and provide additional information where necessary.
The Managing Partner and founder of Alim & Associates, M.A. Yusuf, said the firm was engaged because of its experience and knowle dge of higher institutions, their projects, and infrastructural needs.
Yusuf said the outcome of the South East engagement would be presented at a national forum in Abuja, where submissions from institutions across the country would be harmonised into a master document to guide future TETFund interventions.
A Deputy Rector of the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Dr Nkiruka Akabike, stressed the importance of accurate data in determining the priorities of institutions. She identified erosion control, internal road networks, perimeter fencing, security, and the expansion and upgrading of existing facilities among the needs of her institution.
A community leader from the host institution, David Nweze Umahi University of Medical Sciences, Dr Okoro Ogbonnaya, also called for stronger security intervention, including accommodation for security personnel on the university premises. He said the measure would enable security personnel to respond promptly to threats, particularly as the institution operates a 100 percent boarding system.
Also, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Professor Josaphat Onwumere, urged TETFund to sustain and expand its interventions. Onwumere said first-generation universities, such as UNN, face significant infrastructural challenges due to aging facilities and growing student populations. He called for more hostels, classrooms and faculty buildings, as well as interventions to tackle erosion and other forms of infrastructure decay.
He also described ICT as critical to the future of tertiary education, urging TETFund to extend interventions across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
