The Education Trust Fund (ETF) on Wednesday in Abuja disbursed allocation letters for special intervention grants worth N41.4 billion to some institutions.
The Executive Secretary of ETF, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said at a meeting with benefitting institutions that the grants would be used to boost the quality of their infrastructure.
Yakubu decried the poor state of facilities in tertiary institutions, saying, “as at today, no Nigerian laboratory ranks among the top 1,000 in the world.”
“ETF must provide the lead with at least six world class laboratories in universities,” he added.
He said the two cardinal objectives for the projects were value for money and their positive impact on the nation’s education sector.
“Due process must be duly and uncompromisingly observed in the implementation of the projects.
“Time and qualitative delivery of the projects are very crucial,” he added.
Yakubu, who said three representatives from ETF, NUC and NBTE would be involved in the projects, said the latest disbursement was unprecedented.He said the agency had been involved in special intervention projects in the last 10 years, adding that some initiatives were not satisfactorily implemented.
Responding, Dr Wale Babalakin, the Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors,said the disbursement was crucial to the education sector.
He urged ETF to investigate whether the funds were judiciously utilised for the desired purpose at the end of the year.
Babalakin said since the council collected the grants from government, they should be held responsible for non-implementation of the projects.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six universities received N5.5 billion each while three polytechnics got N1.2billion.
Similarly, N1.1 billion each went to three Colleges of Education and the Nigerian Defence Academy.
(NAN)
