FG to bury N292.66 billion in select public universities, polytechnics

The Federal Government has approved the disbursement of N292.66 billion to select public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.

The fund is expected to be spread to Institutions of Higher Learning, in each of the six geo-political zones of the country.

The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

The 2021 disbursement plans, as revealed by TETFund will see N906 million go to at least one University in a geopolitical zone while N628 million will be given to one Polytechnic and one college of education, also in each geopolitical zone.

While disclosing the federal government’s decision to beneficiary institutions at a stakeholders briefing in Abuja, Bogoro revealed that the federal government has now bestowed on the agency the responsibility of completing the National Library Project in Abuja.

Emphasising the importance of research to national development, Bogoro said the federal government established the National Research Foundation and continuously approves funds to see that it improves.

He explained that funds provided for the National Research Foundation has increased from N3 billion to N8.5 billion in recent times.

The TETfund boss, however, challenged academics in the country to turn around the fortunes of the country through cutting-edge research using the funds provided

“Let us apply our innovative research outcome to solve the security problem, let us bring back value addition to the solid minerals that we are blessed with, it is one gold we have not explored to any significant level,” he said.

He revealed that the federal government has also made funds available for TETFund to support research activities in the nations’ Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), to address the nation’s security challenges.