NAN-H-34
TETFUND
By Sunday John
Akwanga (Nasarawa State), Jan. 21, 2017 (NAN) Mr. David Abuluya, Proprietor, Nacabs Polytechnic, Akwanga, Nasarawa State, has urged the Federal Government to extend its support, rendered through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), to private schools.
Abuluya, who made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Saturday in Akwanga, said that such gesture had become pertinent since TETFUND was established to reposition tertiary institutions in the country.
“The private and public schools have the same goal – quality manpower for national development; so, government should not limit its assistance to just public institutions,” he argued.
He described TETFUND’s contributions to educational development as “very massive”, and said that it would be unfair to limit its beneficiaries to just one group of schools.
Abuluya appealed to the National Assembly to amend the TETFUND law to include private institutions among its beneficiaries, pointing out that individuals investing in education were doing so to complement government’s efforts.
“Such efforts deserve government’s support,” he declared.
He also appealed to the Nasarawa State Government to support the polytechnic in the areas of electricity and water supply to enable it produce quality students that could compete favourable with their counterparts.
The proprietor said that the polytechnic had obtained interim accreditation in six courses, but expressed hope that full accreditation would be attained if power was steady.
“Even without any external support, we were able to build many structures and equip them with modern facilities to create a conducive environment for staff and students.
“Clearly, with a little external support, we shall go very far,” he said.
He said that the institution had adopted stringent measure to guard against vices like examination malpractice, rape, cultism, indecent dressing, among others. (NAN)
AKW/DOR/ETS
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Edited by Nyisome Dore and Ephraims Sheyin