From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Tuesday, commissioned seven intervention projects worth N2.1 billion at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Bichi, Kano State
Speaking at the occasion at the new site of the college, the Executive Secretary of the TETFund, Arch Sunny S.T. Ochono listed the projects to include lecture theatres, auditoria, lecture halls, offices and equipment.
Represented by the Zonal Coordinator, (North West)of the Fund, Dr Bilikisu Zangon- Daura, he said the Federal Government, through the Fund, has invested hugely in the provision of requisite infrastructures to aid teaching, learning and research in public tertiary institutions across the country.
He explained that the large number of intervention projects invested in the college were a testament of government’s commitment to ensuring that Nigeria’s higher institutions attained higher global ranking in the delivery of academic content within a conducive environment.
He affirmed their sense of equity in the allocation of funds to the three tiers of its beneficiaries, namely universities, polytechnics and colleges in line with the enabling laws governing the activities of the agency.
He enjoined the management of the College of Education to maintain the projects and to put to them optimum use with a view to serving the present and future generations even as he indicated that they had set aside funds specifically for the maintenance of their infrastructures.
While appreciating the TETfund for its immense intervention in the college, the Provost of the College, Professor Bashir Muhammad Fegge , said the college’s major challenge remained inadequate funding especially overhead cost.
He described the drastic reduction in the number of students subscribing to the Colleges of Education as yet another threat to the existent of the system.