By Adeyinka Adeniran
The Honourable Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has stated that education forms an integral part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s Renewed Hope agenda, hence the Federal Government would continue to provide necessary support towards making our educational institutions globally competitive for economic and technological development of the country.
He stated this at the commissioning for use of TETFund sponsored projects at the University of Ibadan on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Chief Adelabu noted that over the years, TETFund, through the support of the Federal Government, had performed exceptionally in the provision of physical infrastructure, support for academic staff training and development, books publication, ICT, Research and Development amongst others in public tertiary educational institutions across the country.
He reassured that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains totally committed towards providing greater support and the enabling environment to ensure that TETFund improves on its performance.
Chief Adelabu commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the commitment that he has demonstrated towards the development of education since the commencement of his administration on 29 May 2023.
He listed such efforts as the introduction of the students’ loan initiative to ease access to tertiary education for indigent students; personal meetings with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students to discuss the welfare of Nigerian students; and the recent waiver of the ‘No work, no pay’ order on the Academic Staff Union of Universities which is expected to pave the way for the part payment of the withheld salaries of members.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny S. T. Echono, OON, FNIA was represented at the ceremony by Arc. Babatunde Olajide, Director Monitoring and Evaluation at TETFund.
Arc. Echono said that the financing of projects by TETFund is a clear demonstration of the Federal Government’s unwavering commitment to the provision of requisite physical infrastructure in the nation’s public tertiary institutions.
He commended the management of the University of Ibadan for working assiduously at ensuring the successful delivery of the projects.
Arc. Echono stated that UI is a trail blazer in accessing TETFund intervention funds and judiciously utilizing the same for impactful projects.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kayode O. Adebowale, mni, FAS, thanked the TETFund for the continuous assistance to the University of Ibadan in the areas of infrastructure and human capital development.
The two projects that were commissioned were:
1) The Department of Architecture building.
2) The Faculty of Technology building.
The projects formed part of the 2017-2020 Merged TETFund Normal Intervention projects. The total cost was over six hundred and sixty one million Naira.
The Vice-Chancellor appealed to the Honourable Minister of Power to assist the University of Ibadan in the speedy completion of the proposed 132/33/11KV Transmission Substation; provision of 2 No. 15MVA Transformers; resuscitation of the 15MW Solar Inverter project; replacement of 4,000 meters of underground cables to replace the cables laid in the 50s and 60s; replacement of worn out Ring Mains Units; as well as the replacement of worn-out 4 No.11KV breakers.
