LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Tertiary Education Trust Fund has approved N130m for each polytechnic as zonal intervention in its 2023 intervention line.
The Director of Infrastructure of the Fund, Buhari Mika’Ilu, who confirmed the development earlier today, at the TETFund/NBTE sensitisation workshop on the 2023 Zonal Intervention on Skills, said the fund would be geared towards reinvigorating skills acquisition in polytechnics across the country.
According to Mika’ilu, the fund is geared towards reinvigorating skills acquisition in polytechnics across the country.
Mika’Ilu said the intervention was to consolidate the efforts of the National Board for Technical Education in increasing the capacities of polytechnics to deliver on their mandate.
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He said the intervention was mostly used to support institutions to meet basic requirements for accreditation, adding that the intervention focused purely on projects with academic relevance, thereby addressing deficiencies in core areas of acquisition of essential instructional materials and equipment for teaching and learning and building capacities for the use of the equipment procured.
”Funds are allocated in line with the provision of the Establishment Act and guided towards addressing critical and essential needs of the beneficiary institutions for the improvement of quality and maintenance of standards in the tertiary educational institutions.
”NBTE has been at the forefront in championing the need to have skills in the educational system in Nigeria. It is in response to this that the fund has prioritised the 2023 zonal allocation to polytechnics to be geared towards reinvigorating skills acquisition in the polytechnics across the country.
”This is to further consolidate the efforts of NBTE in increasing the capacities of polytechnics to deliver on their mandate. Therefore, the sum of N130,000,000 only allocated to each polytechnic has the main focus of procurement, installation, testing, training and commissioning of relevant training materials.”
The Director also revealed that since the inception of the zonal intervention in 2016, the fund had allocated a total sum of N52,046,079,584.7 as zonal intervention to enlisted polytechnics.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, charged rectors of polytechnics to explore innovative approaches to skills development and as well devise effective solutions that would enhance the quality and relevance of technical education in the institutions.
Echono said skills development and entrepreneurship represented a holistic process in which individuals in society pursue opportunities and address needs through innovation.
”The purpose of this sensitisation workshop is to discuss and enlighten participants on two key areas: One is the skills agenda and occupational areas as a panacea for gainful employment of graduates and the second is the formalisation of the informal skills sector. By focusing on these aspects, we aim to address the critical needs for aligning our educational system with the demands of the labour market,” Echono said.