Lagos State Governor, Bababjide Sanwo-Olu has called on the Federal Government for additional funding from Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, for the three accredited universities of the state.
Recall that in addition to the Lagos State University, Ojo, the National Universities Commission, NUC, had sometime in February 2022, issued Lagos State Government provisional license to operate two universities.
The institutions are the Lagos State University of Education, with centres in Ijaniki and Epe, and the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, Ikorodu.
On funding, Sanwo-Olu made the call on Monday, when the Federal House of Representatives, Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, and Other Services, led by the Chairman, Miriam Odinaka Onuoha, paid a courtesy visit to him at Lagos House, Ikeja.
While addressing the committee, Sanwo-Olu said: “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 utilise it very judiciously. For us, we want more.
“We are not asking because we want to ask, we are asking because the population is here.
“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.”
On approval for a medical university — University of Medical Sciences — Sanwo-Olu added, “We need to have investments so that we can have universities that can produce doctors and medical personnel in their tens.”
Recently, Senator Shehu Sani noted that over the years, TETFUND has been able to address infrastructural challenges in public tertiary institutions.
According to him, “That became possible because it’s funded by three percent education tax paid from profits of registered firms.
“The Federal Government now lumping Tetfund into the national budget will destroy it once and for all. 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.”
