The Vice-Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Prof. Hilary Edeoga said on Friday that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) had impacted positively on the institution.

Conducting journalists round some TETFund projects in the institution, Edeoga said that the Fund had cushioned the effects of dwindling capital allocation to the institution.

He said that TETFund had committed billions of naira into projects in the institution in the past four years, adding that the Centre for Gender, which is one of the projects, had been completed.

“Throughout last year, our capital allocation was over N300 million, but we did not get up to N100 million.

“In fact, we got N68 million; but if you go outside, you will see completed buildings constructed through TETFund.

“I do not know what would have happened to public universities in Nigeria without TETFund.

“We have not received any money as capital allocation since the beginning of this year; that is why we must commend the Federal Government for establishing TETFund.”

According to him, the massive infrastructural and academic development of the institution is because of transparent deployment of TETFund allocations and Internally Generated Revenue.

He said that over 100 academic staff of the institution had benefitted from TETFund sponsored training and scholarships in the past three years.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that TETFund projects in MOUAU include, classroom blocks, laboratory equipment, furniture, ICT department, lecture theatres, post graduate building, auditorium, piggery building, among others.

Edeoga called on the Federal Government to reconsider its stance on the upgrading of some colleges of education to universities of education, noting that it was a positive way of producing quality teachers.

“Something must be done; the university of education is very appropriate because if we do not have good teachers, standard will fall.

“In other countries, you will see such universities; right now, if you go to the secondary schools, you do not have science teachers; you do not have teachers teaching agriculture, you do not have teachers teaching introduction to technology.

“You do not have teachers teaching most of the science subjects—physics, chemistry, biology-because there are few designated universities for such training.”

Edeoga said that there was need to not only establish universities of education, but to provide scholarship, bursary and other incentives for students who subscribe to education courses.

NAN recalls that President Buhari had last month reversed the upgrading of four colleges of education granted by the previous administration.

The institutions were Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo State, Federal College of Education, Zaria, and the Federal College of Education. Kano. (NAN)

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