From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has advocated increased opportunities for Nigerian youths to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills for entrepreneurship.
It stated that entrepreneurship will go a long way in curbing the menace of huge unemployment in Nigeria and consequently tackle the socio-economic problems that are prevalent in Nigeria.
It, thus, challenged tertiary institutions in Nigeria to increase their attention and budgetary allocation to entrepreneurship programmes so as to produce more entrepreneurs that would birth solutions to several societal problems and not just graduates.
TETFund Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono, made the suggestion when he hosted the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, who paid him a courtesy visit at the Fund’s headquarters, in Abuja.
Echono told the governor that one of his primary goals as TETFund boss is to make tertiary institutions a place to produce entrepreneurs, disclosing plans to reinforce huge investments in the 13 new Universities to fast-track their rate of progress, with a view to achieving the purpose of establishing them.
He restated that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has given his full support to education as evident in the recent presidential approval of an upward review of education tax from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent, which will enable TETFund to cope with increasing demands.
The TETFund boss expressed appreciation at the show of support from the governor and pledged continued commitment to the development of tertiary education in the state.
Earlier in his remark, Governor Lalong, lauded the Fund for the numerous iconic projects in the tertiary institutions in Plateau State, describing TETFund as a lifeline for the institutions.
He encouraged Echono to continue the good work of his predecessor, Prof. Elias Bogoro, who the Governor said, made a lot of impact on the development of tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
Governor Lalong promised that, as Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, he will ensure that the Executive Secretary get the necessary support of other northern governors to carry out his responsibilities.