The National Assembly has thrown its weight behind increased funding of higher education and innovative research, noting that they are key to the socio-economic development of the country.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator, Muntari Dandutse made this known while speaking at the 2024 TETFund Board of Trustees Retreat held in Lagos recently.
While conveying the goodwill of the National Assembly to the TETFund Board of Trustees, he noted the importance and timeliness of holding the retreat with critical stakeholders such as the National Assembly participating.
“We are having this retreat for the first time under the Executive Secretary of TETFund, the leadership of the Board of Trustees and members of the National Assembly. I think it is timely and very important.
“Education is key to the success of each and every country in the world. No matter what is invested in education, I believe it is worth any penny. Considering the population we have in Nigeria, we need to invest more, and we are glad that the Executive Secretary has started to lay a good foundation by involving critical stakeholders such as the National Assembly and leadership of the regulatory bodies.
“If you look at Britain, Germany and most of the developed countries, they started with education. They fund research, innovation and inventions in most of their key areas – in education, agriculture, science and innovation. So, I think it is important to look forward to value addition of funds available and also look forward to increase in terms of funding education,” he said.
On her part, the Chairperson of the House of Representatives’ Committee on TETFund, Hon. Princess Miriam Onuoha commended the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono for his efforts at repositioning the Fund and organizing the retreat.
While also stating the importance of education to economic development, she assured of the committee’s continued support for the Fund’s activities.
“Pursuant to the mandate of the committee, I would like to restate that our committee remains resolute in our conviction that once we get the education of our people right, we will definitely get our development right; and indeed, place our country back on the right trajectory.
“We have the strong belief that robust deliberation on the theme of this retreat by the stakeholders gathered here today, will further distill the ‘Renewed Hope’ deliverables to a more detailed implementation with turnaround strategies that will not only be measurable but capable of providing results that will also be visible to the Nigerian public,” she said.
