Governor Yusuf seeks TETFund interventions for Kano varsities

Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf has advocated additional funding to state owned universities to improve learning atmosphere.

SOLACEBASE reports that the governor was on an official visit to Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) headquarters in Abuja to galvanize support for additional funding to Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil and the Northwest University, Kano.

A statement issued by Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, on Tuesday said Abba Kabir Yusuf described TETFUND as a driver for human capital development.

“Our investment in higher education could only be effective with the complementary efforts of  TETFUND, we are determined to increase the capacity of our universities in the areas of infrastructure, research, training and retraining,’’ the statement said.

According to the statement , the governor said the visit was to canvas for more supports and strengthen relationships between Kano State government and the agency.

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“In terms of education, Kano State is like Oliver Twist, the more you help us, the more we crave for more support, that’s why I am here personally,’’ the statement emphasized.

“If you look at most universities in the country, without the support of TETFund they won’t be where they are today in terms of educational facilities.

“Number two, I am more concerned about the training and retraining of the staff of the universities. TETFund has been assisting in areas of training and retraining,” the governor said.

On his part, TETFund Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono who congratulated Governor Yusuf on his victory in the March 2023 gubernatorial election, said the fund is ready to partner with the government to improve the fortunes of tertiary education institutions in the state.

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Echono described Kano as not only centre of commerce but also that of learning with over many universities in the state.

“TETFund intervenes in three institutions within a state; that is the universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.

“The board of Trustees, in order to ensure we concentrate resources and achieve meaningful impact, placed limitations on a number of institutions.

“So, we do not encourage states to just establish multiple institutions with only the intention of targeting TETFund intervention.

“It actually enlists two similar types of institutions at a time, and even when we enlist two institutions at a time, what I mean is either two universities or two polytechnics or two colleges of education.

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“In order, to meet the provision of our law that talks about equality of states, to ensure we do not favour one particular state over the order. States that have more than one institution, actually, alternate them,” he said.