For private Higher Education to effectively grow in Nigeria, a special intervention fund, as suggested by the Vice Chancellor of Kwararafa University, Professor Yakubu Aboki Ochefu, must be establish for both public and private higher education.
More to that rather than restricting the TETFUND to public education, the need to as well extend such olive branch to private higher education, as opined by him, would as well assist in accelerating the growth of private education in the country.
Ochefu, who made this known during the commissioning of the Rufkatu Asibi Kuru Danjuma E-Liberary, located in the university premises in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba state, sees education as a ” prime mover of society” hence the need for government to as well herald smiles on the faces of private higher education through the aforementioned suggestions.
Citing the Nollywood industry, Airlines, Automobile, Taxtile, Small and Medium Enterprises, that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has in the past provides special intervention funds for, such gesture, extended to private higher education, he said would further boost the education standard of the country.
” Such a fund” according to him ” will enable resource-challenged institutions like us to access credit at concessionary rates and help reduce our cost of providing service.
Though aware that the ” existing law does not allow”TeTfund to extend helping hands to ” private university financially” but the need for the fund to allow private university ” access to research grant rather than the current practice of insisting that we pair with public institutions” he believed is not good tidings
Believing that the much desired educational goal for the country can be reach by both private and public higher institution, the need for the authority assigned with educational responsibility to desist from discriminating against private university, he believed can no longer be overemphasized.
In his word ” they can also lend us money at concessionary rate, the repayments of which will contribute to improving the portfolio of the Fund.”
Believing that the former Minister of Defense, General T.Y Danjuma is a ” confidant of the President of the Republic of Nigeria” he pleaded with him, to draw the attention of Mr. President to the above suggestions, stressing that ” you may wish to share these ideals with him.”
The said e-library which was named after the late mother of General T.Y Danjuma, has a seating capacity of about 300. The e-library, as gathered by Naija247News, has a physical collection of 10,000 books, journals and other publications ” it gives us access to 1.5 million publications across globally recognized channels such as science direct, EbscoHost and AJOL etc” according to the VC.
Apart from the financial problems presently confronting the university that have relocated from its temporary site to its permanent site in the same council, the V.C was optimistic that the much desired dream of the institution would be actualize hence the need for the people of the community, the local government and the state at large to contribute their quotas to its growth.
Overwhelmed by the rapid growth of the university, Danjuma, whom Naija247 News learnt has contributed so much to the development of the school, went ahead to made a pledge of N200million for the institution.
The commissioning as noticed by our correspondent herald the presence of dignitaries from the nooks and crannies of the country among which is the former Minister of Information. Professor Jerry Gana, former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Idris D. Waziri, traditional rulers from far and near to mention but few.
Credit: Naija247news
