By Alice Etuka, Abuja
The Executive Governor of Zamfara state, Dauda Lawal has appealed to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for an increased intervention fund to the state to boost infrastructural development in some state-owned tertiary institutions.
Lawal made the appeal on Thursday, June 6, 2024 when he paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono in Abuja.
He stated that, apart from the poor financial standing of Zamfara, the state of emergency he declared in the education sector recently required extensive funding support to succeed.
The Governor also sought the support of TETFund to complete some of the abandoned projects, especially at the State University in order to expand access to University education in the state.
He underscored the urgency of addressing the pressing challenges within the state’s educational system, highlighting TETFund’s importance in that respect:
“I came to say thank you to TETFUND, but at the same time to ask for more intervention, considering the financial situation of the states.
“Remember, sometimes in November, we declared emergency in education and that is why I’m here to continue to follow up wherever we can get help, so that things will be better in Zamfara”, he said.
Speaking on the security situation in the state, Lawal said security had become a major challenge in the state, he thereby assured that the government was on it.
On his part, the TETFUND boss assured that, despite the security challenges in Zamfara state, the Fund was doing a lot to ensure that education continues in the state
Echono informed that TETFUND was ensuring that every part of the country and every student across the country have access to quality education:
“He (the Governor) came on appreciation visit, because we are doing a lot despite the security challenges in Zamfara. We want to make sure that education continues and to make sure that every part of this country, our students wherever they may be, have access to good quality education.
“He came with very specific request, especially as it relates to state institutions. Zamfara like any other states is one of the beneficiaries of our High-Impact projects and he was canvassing for us to complete some already ongoing projects, because they are having funding challenges”, he said.
Echono added that some of the abandoned projects were initiated by successive governments and that the Governor wants TETFund to take them over and to complete them.
According him, the Governor felt that rather start new projects, if those ongoing projects were completed, it would be more beneficial to the state.
The TETFund Helmsman, however, said the initial constraint in taking over such abandoned projects would be that TETFund would have to separate its project from the projects solely embarked upon by the state.
