As part of efforts towards further strengthening the intervention activities of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), three ad-hoc committees were inaugurated by the Fund.
The Committees are the Ad-hoc Committee on Operationalization of Equipment Upgrade in Workshops and Laboratories for Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education (Technical); Ad-hoc Committee on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Ad-hoc Committee on Operationalization of Skills Development Special intervention.
Speaking during the inauguration ceremony held at the TETFund Headquarters in Abuja in March, the Executive Secretary expressed profound appreciation to members of the committees for their acceptance to serve in the national assignment.
While stating that the constitution of the committees underscored the importance the Fund attaches to strengthening its intervention activities towards delivery of its mandate, Arc. Echono noted that members were selected based on individual capacities and belief that they would collectively as a team deliver on the various tasks.
The Executive Secretary remarked that in line with TETFund’s commitment to deepening its content-based interventions, concerted efforts were being made to identify more innovative ways of enhancing research capacities of Beneficiary Institutions and promote skills development which is one of the priority areas of government aimed at addressing youth unemployment in the country.
Speaking on the committees and their terms of reference, the Executive Secretary stated that to ensure effective implementation of the upgrade of equipment in workshops and laboratories of universities and colleges of education (technical), the Fund constituted an Ad-hoc Committee chaired by Prof Hayward Babale to advise on the operationalization of the upgrade of the equipment in workshops and laboratories of the institutions.
Part of the terms of reference of the committee, he said, include assessing the state of workshops and laboratories in target institutions including equipment and other facilities in use, determination of requirements for upgrade of equipment in the workshops and laboratories, among others.
The committee on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres is chaired by Prof. Oyewale Tomori and the terms of reference include assessing performance of existing TETFund Centres of Excellence hosted in universities based on their given mandates and areas of specialization, among others.
For the Committee on Operationalization of Skills Development Special intervention, Prof Idris Bugaje, the Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) was appointed as chairman to advise on the modalities for the operationalization of the intervention.
In his response, Executive Secretary of NBTE and Chairman, Committee on Operationalization of Skills Development Special Intervention, Prof Idris Bugaje, commended TETFund for its investments in skills development, indicating that it was the right direction towards job creation in Nigeria.
