By Ayodele Oni
Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has attributed the survival of State-owned Universities to existence of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
The Governor lauded TETFUND for the infrastructure development of higher institutions, stressing that it has enhanced growth and development of education in the State.
Oyebanji, who led a team comprising the Commissioner for Finance, Akintunde Oyebode, Director General, office of SDGs, Wole Ajakaiye and Permanent Secretary Abuja Liason office, Babatunde Olaoye were received by the Executive Secretary, TETFUND, Sonny Echono and the board of directors in Abuja.
Governor Oyebanji, who thanked the TETFUND management for various projects funded in the state tertiary institutions, said the agency has contributed in no small measures to the state’s drive for economic re-engineering.
According to the Governor, efforts of his administration in the last one year have been geared toward developing the foundation laid by his predecessor, particularly in the area making the youths have the right place of knowledge and skills acquisition for productivity and poverty alleviation.
He sought more collaboration and partnership with TETFUND, saying that the state would continue to make the best use of structures in Ekiti State University, Bamidele Olumilua University and the State Polytechnic Isan Ekiti.
“I am aware of the TETFUND interventions in all our institutions in Ekiti state and I think it is very appropriate for me to come here and say thank you to TETFUND.
“There is a saying that if you say thank you for what has been done for you yesterday, the chances are there that you will get more.
“This visit is long overdue, but I was stuck in the state trying to build on the foundations laid by my predecessor, we campaigned on the mantra of shared prosperity and for the past one year, we have been driving in that direction.
“Everybody knows Ekiti state to be the state of intellectuals and we believe strongly that if people are educated and have the right place of knowledge, they will be productive knowing that the antidote to poverty is productivity, and to be productive, one must have the right skills.
“This is where TETFUND is playing a very big role in trying to provide the prerequisite for knowledge acquisition. We want to partner with TETFUND and explore other areas of collaboration.”
Responding, the TETFUND Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono described Ekiti state as a warehouse of intellectuals, commending the Ekiti state government for serving as a model to other states in the country in terms of sound education and research as well as making the best use of the TETFUND projects in the various schools.
He assured the Governor of TETFUND continuous partnership with institutions in order to achieve the federal government goals of creating a level playing ground for youth to contribute meaningfully to national growth and development.
“Everyone knows that Ekiti state has a special place in the education of this country, having produced aggregate proportion of the highest number of intellectuals and academics, who have contributed in no immeasurable ways to the development of the country.
“We look forward to deepening that partnership and collaborate with the institutions in Ekiti state to create opportunities especially for the youths to express themselves and contribute their quota to the development of this country and to collectively grow this economy.
“We are glad that the institutions in Ekiti State both owned by the state and the Federal Government are doing well with respect to TETFUND projects and we are giving assurances that we will be expanding these areas of collaboration particularly in the area of research and upgrading facilities.
“We want the country to know that we are proud of the continuity of programmes and the model that is working in Ekiti State and we recommend that to other states in the country to emulate because it assures us of a seamless effort to rebuild the broken walls of our institutions.”
.){kind=link}