The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa has expressed appreciation to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for its interventions in public tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria, particularly those owned by the military, even as he commended the leadership of the Fund for the progress being made in the higher education sub-sector.
The CDS spoke when he led top military officers on a courtesy call to the Fund’s Headquarters in Abuja recently.
Speaking on security challenges in the country, General Musa stressed the importance of education in the fight against insecurity, noting that illiteracy is a veritable tool for manipulation and exploitation.
“We appreciate you for what you do; we know what education used to be in this country, where and when we lost focus, and we know where we are now due to TETFund. We particularly appreciate your leadership and intervention in our institutions.
“Many may not know, but illiteracy is an essential cause of insecurity and kinetic efforts alone cannot be used against insecurity. Therefore, education has a critical role to play in this regard. That is why we are looking at providing the much-needed security in schools across the country, as there are elements who hate seeing people go to school,” the CDS said.
While stating that efforts were ongoing to ensure the safety of educational institutions across the country, Gen. Musa assured that the military remained committed to restoring peace and security in every part of the country.
In his response, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono expressed appreciation to CDS for the progress being made in the fight against insecurity.
He sought collaboration with the military in the TETFund National Research Fair/Exhibition which was slated for November.
“We know that the military have a very strong research component, so we see this opportunity as such to renew our invitation to the military to participate at the fair. The participation is for all Nigerians and at no cost to participants. We look forward to greater collaboration going forward,” he said.
