Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called on the Federal Government to provide additional funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for the state’s three accredited universities.
In addition to Lagos State University (LASU) in Ojo, the National Universities Commission (NUC) issued provisional licenses in February 2022 for the Lagos State University of Education (with campuses in Ijanikin and Epe) and the Lagos State University of Science and Technology in Ikorodu.
Sanwo-Olu made this appeal on Monday during a courtesy visit by the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, and Other Services, led by Chairwoman Miriam Odinaka Onuoha, at Lagos House in Ikeja.
In his address to the committee, Sanwo-Olu stated, “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 utilize it very judiciously. For us, we want more.”
He emphasized the need for increased funding due to the significant population and the impact of these universities.
“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.”
Sanwo-Olu also highlighted the necessity for a medical university, the University of Medical Sciences, to produce a substantial number of doctors and medical personnel.
“We need to have investments so that we can have universities that can produce doctors and medical personnel in their tens,” he added.
In related comments, Senator Shehu Sani recently noted that TETFUND has significantly addressed infrastructural challenges in public tertiary institutions due to the three percent education tax paid from the profits of registered firms.
He warned against lumping TETFUND into the national budget, stating, “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.”
Subscribe to National Updates for more News.
