Kwara seeks TETFund’s support to upgrade and Convert Colleges of Education to Universities
…Mainly, this visit is to say you are doing a good job and on behalf of the people and government of Kwara state,we say thank you for the job you have done and we appreciate you. Governor AbdulRazaq
Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, disclosed on Wednesday that all the state owned colleges of education will be converted and upgraded to universities.
AbdulRazaq, disclosed this during a working courtesy visit on the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono in Abuja, to this end,he has appealed to the management of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFund) for support in the upgrade of the three colleges of education to universities of education.
He listed the three colleges of education for conversion into universities to include: Kwara State College of Education, Oro; Kwara State College of Education (Technical), Lafiagi and Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin.
AbdulRazaq revealed that most of the colleges of education which are state-owned were faced with management challenges including infrastructure, poor investment, and lopsidedness where the non-teaching staff are far more than the academic staff of the institutions.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, in his response, pledged to increase its intervention to tertiary institutions in the State and also to help the state actualize its dream of converting and upgrading some of the Colleges of Education in the state into Universities.
Echono, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja while hosting the Kwara State Governor and Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, in his office.
Echono commended Kwara state for leading the North in education right from the Colonial period, which has been reflected even in the number of institutions in the state.
“Kwara has always led the North even from the colonial period in education. And that has reflected also in the number of institutions that you have.
“I know you have three colleges of education. I am glad you are trying to do some conversion to universities of education now.
“Since 2020, we had focused more on Ilorin. So Lafiagi has suffered a little bit because of the numbers. But if they get converted that gives us the opportunity on two more,” He said.
Echono assured the governor of TETFund’s continuous partnership with the institutions to achieve the Federal Government’s goals of creating a level-playing ground for youths to contribute meaningfully to national growth and development.
AbdulRazaq also. commended TETFund for its massive interventions in both Federal State public tertiary institutions across the country. He said when one visits any universities in the states, it was as if the institutions are TETFund Universities because of replete of the Fund’s projects.
He said he was not at the TETFund to complain about marginalization but to thank the Executive Secretary and his management team for impactful interventions in Kwara state and indeed in the entire public tertiary institutions in the country.
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He said it was on record that Kwara has one of the best University libraries in the whole of the West Africa courtesy of TETFund’s intervention.
“Mainly, this visit is to say you are doing a good job and on behalf of the people and government of Kwara state,we say thank you for the job you have done and we appreciate you.
The governor, who led some serving members of the National Assembly on the visit, thanked the TETFund management for various projects funded in the state’s tertiary institutions.
On the issue of insecurity facing school in the country, Echono said the Fund has been engaging with security agencies, Ministry of Education and others to ensure safe education for the children.
According to him, “We are doing everything possible to avoid the recurrence of the last week incidence in Kaduna. We are upgrading security infrastructure in our beneficiary institutions and looking at all the various areas of security.”
He continued; “Kwara has been very useful to the country in providing institutions that train teachers from the basic level of education.
“On our end, we have introduced a new intervention line last year where we try to upgrade security facilities in our beneficiary institutions.
“We are doing something about it and Kwara will be featured in that equation. So I really want to appreciate His excellency for taking time to come,” he said.