The National Association Of Nigerian Students (NANS), Ondo State axis has appealed to the management of Ondo State tertiary institutions to ensure probity and compliance with the disbursement guidelines of Federal Government’s N320,345,040,835 intervention funds to public tertiary institutions across the country.
The umbrella students association lauded the kind gesture of President Mohammadu Buhari, saying it was aimed at further boosting educational development in Nigeria.
NANS Ondo axis in a statement jointly signed by Akinola Elijah
Joint Camps Committee (JCC), Chairman-Elect and Okeniyi Elijah, the Public Relations Office JCC, Ondo urged respective management teams of beneficiary tertiary institutions in Ondo State to ensure that the fund is effectively and judiciously deployed to respective universities, Colleges of Education and polytechnics for the same purpose set by the FG.
NANS Ondo JCC in its commitment and resolve to avoid another sorry situation, stated the it will set up a taskforce to monitor the proper disbursement and ensure that the TETFund intervention is not diverted or mismanaged.
The statement titled: “Release Of N320.3 Billion TETfund Intervention By President Buhari: A Sunshine On Education Sector” read in parts: “It’s with an absolute sense of gratitude and appreciation that we received the news of the approval of ₦320.3 billion TETFund intervention fund disbursement for public tertiary institutions in Nigeria, by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Nigerian Students Under the auspices of the National Association Of Nigerian Students Ondo State axis sincerely appreciate this kind gesture from the presidency, which is strategically aimed at further boosting educational development in Nigeria.
“We strongly believe this is a significant opportunity for schools to upgrade their facilities which will further enhance academic qualities and activities on campus.
“NANS ONDO JCC wishes to commend the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for its sincerity of purpose in line with the anti-corruption campaign.
“Information at our disposal reveals each university will receive the sum of ₦1,154,732,133.00, while each polytechnic and college of education will get ₦699,344,867.00 and ₦800,862,602.00 respectively. This is the highest disbursement to each beneficiary institution since the inception of TETFund.
“NANS Ondo JCC is, however, sending a strong note of warning to managements of Ondo State institutions to consider utilizing these funds effectively and judiciously for the development of our schools and other academic-related activities.
“In view of this, NANS Ondo JCC will be setting up a task force basically to ensure that the TETFUND funds are not diverted and mismanaged. The committee will be charged to consider engaging the EFCC and ICPC should we suspect any financial misappropriation of the said fund by any school management.
“We strongly believe that the disbursement of such a significant amount will avail schools the opportunity of solving a few of the major challenges facing our schools, which include but are not limited to outdated facilities, poor infrastructure, inadequate academic resources, and security mechanisms among others which will lead to improvement in the quality of education and equally provide better opportunities for students to succeed upon graduation, with an assurance of not been half-baked graduates.
“Furthermore, following the release of the TETFUND intervention fund, we are once again urging and warning all school managements in Ondo State to refrain from considering increments in school fees as a means of generating funds for the development of schools as it will be vehemently resisted by our leadership.
“It is worthy of note to state that allocation to the tertiary education sector has witnessed significant and all-time increases under President Buhari’s administration. To be precise a total of ₦1.702 trillion has been disbursed to public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education between 2015 and till date, the highest ever.
The statement added,” Finally we are imploring the president elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Asiwaju Bola tinubu to consider sticking to the UNESCO recommendation of 26 per cent of the national budget be spent on education, even as we do not doubt his committed and sincere love for education development in Nigeria”.
