TETFund earmarks N12b for 12 additional centres of excellence
NEWS DIGEST – The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has allocated N12 billion for the establishment of 12 additional Centres of Excellence (COEs) in tertiary institutions.
Each of the 12 centres will get N1 billion for take-off with a five-year funding period.
Under its 2020 intervention, the agency said it created 12 TETFund Centers of Excellence in universities.
According to the agency, 12 more centres will be established evenly in six polytechnics and colleges of education this year.
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof Suleiman Bogoro, who disclosed this at the inauguration of the 12 maiden Centres in Abuja, said two were selected in each geo-political zone of the country and are to be funded for a period of 5 years.
The centres are; Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa, Federal College of Education, Pankshin (North Central), Plateau State, Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi, Federal College of Education, Yola (Northeast), Federal Polytechnic, Kaduna, Federal College of Education, Zaria (Northwest), Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri (South East), Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku (Southsouth), Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo (Southwest).
Read Also:
Inaugurating the centres, Bogoro charged them to hit the ground running by ensuring that they strengthen their sustainability beyond the year 2026.
He said: “I’m delighted to welcome you all to this historic occasion, one that I hope will lay the foundation as well as define the trajectory for the transformation of our beleaguered Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) from mere ‘citadels of learning’, where inputs and outputs have left much to be desired for far too long, to the springboard of Nigeria’s leap into the knowledge economy paradigm, in keeping with the established tradition that higher education institutions are the bastion of intellectualism and the breeding ground for creativity, original thinking and innovation that shape and define civilisations and also drive economies and development.
“Having been painstakingly selected to host the second batch of TETFUND Centres of Excellence (ICots), Whilst it is appropriate for each of you here to feel justifiably proud for being deemed worthy of selection from among dozens of eligible candidate institutions, I hasten to draw your attention to the huge burden of expectation that comes with your choice as the pioneer Beneficiary Institutions of this initiative with immense national significance.
“There is but one true path to socio-economic and technological advancement – R&D- and the new 12 TCoEs (2 in each geopolitical zone of Nigeria, which we are to fund for five years with a grant of one billion Naira (N1billion) each, will be at the heart of the mechanism for the attainment of our national aspirations.”
