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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) said on Thursday, that it has taken steps to strengthen its partnership with industries as regards research and development.
The Fund confirmed that approval has been secured for the setting up of a secretariat to operationalise the partnership between government, the private sector and academic institutions, to enhance the country’s drive towards a knowledge-based economy.
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, announced the development in Abuja, at a meeting with a delegation of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) led by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Laoye Jaiyeola, adding that the secretariat will domiciled in NESG.
Echono noted that the move was part of the synergy-building efforts by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and TETFund under its policy of the triple helix approach to research anchored on government, the academia and industry partnership.
The TETFund boss further stated that the partnership was to ensure that institutions become more relevant to the society, to national development aspiration, to the needs of industry, to solving problems, and improving the lifestyles and standard of living of the people.
He described NESG as the policy arm or coordinating group for the Nigerian private sector and represents the industry, stressing that partnership with NESG is imperative to drive the concept of employability for graduates, improving curriculum delivery in institutions, making graduates of institutions more relevant to the workplace and the work opportunities of tomorrow.
He said: “I have given a directive that a secretariat be operationalized because we need a structure to ensure that this happens. We cannot keep wishing it. We have to have a group. The secretariat will be domiciled with you. Let’s try and find a way of ensuring that we operationalize that and let’s start the work because all that remains, really, is the will to commence. A lot has been going on, and about four different committees were set up under the auspices of NUC.
“A couple of days ago, we met with the private sector arm of the World Bank and they are already collaborating with us to assist us in an assessment and evaluation of the preparedness, the readiness of our institutions to imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurship, and employability of graduates.
“They have a template they have built in a number of countries. And we said, okay, this type of baseline is good for us, let us even know where we are starting from. But the real coordination of that policy will rely on NESG.”
The TETFund boss urged NESG to provide, a work plan with specific timeline as well as the requirements, the deliverables and targets to commence implementation of the policy direction and objectives.
Earlier, the CEO of NESG, Jaiyeola, recalled that talks about the partnership began in 2018, stressing that all the issues that necessitated the partnership were still germane, still relevant.
He said the secretariat will not only be a platform for NESG but also for private, public sectors and civil society as well as for everybody to sit together and look at issues as it relates to Nigeria.
