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| From left: Federal House of Reps. Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and Other Services, Adeniyi Ojuawo; Anothony Adepoju; the Chairman, Miriam Odinaka Onuoha; Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Bappa Misau; Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Mr. Tolani Sule; Attorney General/Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Lawal Pedro; Vice Chancellor, LASU, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello and other House of Reps committee members during a courtesy call to the governor by the TETFUND committee, at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Monday. |
The esteemed Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has respectfully submitted a request to the Federal Government for additional financial support from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for the three accredited universities within the esteemed state.
Recall that in addition to the Lagos State University, Ojo, the
National Universities Commission (NUC) granted the Lagos State Government a
provisional license to operate two universities in February 2022.
The institutions in question are the Lagos State University
of Education, with campuses in Ijaniki and Epe, and the Lagos State University
of Science and Technology, located in Ikorodu..
In reference to funding, Governor Sanwo-Olu made the request
on Monday during a courtesy visit from the Federal House of Representatives’
Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and Other Services, led by
Chair Miriam Odinaka Onuoha, at Lagos House in Ikeja.
During his address to the committee, Mr. Sanwo-Olu stated
that: “I want to plead that because we now have three universities in Lagos
State, additional funding should be created for them.
“Two of the universities are no longer polytechnic and
college of education. They now carry the toga of a full university. It will
help them very well.
“We thank you for the ones you are doing now and the ones
you have brought forward. I can assure you that they will utilise it very
judiciously. For us, we want more.
“We are not asking because we want to ask, we are asking
because the population is here.
“We are asking because we can feel the impact of the
universities. We are asking because the kind of infrastructure we, on our own,
have committed to those tertiary institutions in the last two or three years is
second to none.
“We are doing projects across the universities concurrently
and we are happy that they have also been able to keep a very peaceful and
responsive learning environment for our students.
“We are believing that TETFUND with your support will
continue to support all three tertiary institutions.”
In reference to the approval of the University of Medical
Sciences, Governor Sanwo-Olu made an additional statement, “We need to have
investments so that we can have universities that can produce doctors and
medical personnel in their tens.”
Recently, Senator Shehu Sani highlighted the significant
role of TETFUND in tackling infrastructural deficiencies within public tertiary
institutions over the years.
According to him, “That became possible because it’s funded
by three percent education tax paid from profits of registered firms.
“The Federal Government now lumping Tetfund into the
national budget will destroy it once and for all. Many projects would be left
abandoned because the fund will now be exposed to budget implementation
challenges.
“The FG should return the fund to the status quo.”
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