President Bola Tinubu has reiterated his commitment to prioritising tertiary education, aiming to produce graduates of exceptional academic quality who can compete on a global scale.
He emphasized the importance of ensuring high academic quality among graduates and the need for conducive learning environments.
The president spoke during the commissioning of projects at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) and Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) in Bauchi at the weekend.
The President commissioned 6 projects worth over N873.666m in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) and Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) all in Bauchi under 2021/2022 merged intervention programmes of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund)
Tinubu who was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, said that education development is one of the cardinal priorities of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government.
He said: “We have introduced a students’ loan initiative to ease access to tertiary education for indigent students, meeting personally with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to discuss the welfare of Nigerian students and recently, approving a waiver of the ‘No Work, No Pay’ order on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which would pave the way for members of the union to receive part of their withheld salaries.”
According to him, “These are part of conscious efforts being made by this administration to address students’ challenges and create industrial harmony between staff unions and Government.
“You would recall that in recognition of the role of TETFund in the development of public tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria, and in a bid to further support and strengthen the intervention activities of the Fund, the President also approved the implementation of the upward review of Education Tax (EDT) to 3 percent with effect from September 2023.”
“This, will in no small measure contribute more to the improved funding of the education sector and development of our public tertiary institutions.”
He stressed: “As we all know, education plays a critical role in the socio-economic development of nations. Therefore, the commissioning of these projects today at the university would in no small measure further enhance teaching and learning and improvement of academic standards.”
“I wish to reiterate that education forms an integral part of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu 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.”
