The Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, has called for a strategic partnership with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in the delivery of intervention projects in tertiary institutions in the state.
Soludo, who made the call during a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, yesterday, in Abuja, said such collaboration would ensure that TETFund’s projects in the state make a robust impact.
Soludo said: “We have a big dream, a big agenda to partner with you and other critical stakeholders; the Federal Government is a critical player in this field. Education, we know, is on the concurrent list in the 1999 Constitution, where the federal and state governments work together. The only way we can make it work for ourselves is to work together through collaboration, coordination and cooperation, and, coincidentally, the resource envelope of the federation is disproportionate here in Abuja.
“I will like us to work together in a lot of areas we are interested in; and in a few years to come, we will be able to say that we delivered something tangible with the TETFund partnership.”
Speaking further, Soludo commended TETFund for its intervention projects across the country, adding that the three state-owned tertiary institutions, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, University, Anambra Polytechnic, Mgbakwu and College of Education, Nsugbe, are eager to welcome more of the Fund’s intervention projects.
The governor, however, expressed concern over the growing number of tertiary institutions in the country, saying government might find it difficult to adequately fund them in the future.
He said: “There are still questions, still issues; we are not asking those questions, but at some point, we are going to ask how the government will be able to fund or adequately fund the number of institutions, or the mechanism of delivery, especially with the brick and mortar system that we have.
“But in the interim, TETFund has been filling the gap, in terms of infrastructure, in our tertiary institutions. As you go from one higher institution to the other, you see them.”
Responding, Echono said that the Fund has continued to do its best both in infrastructure and academic content development.