From: David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), has praised the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University ( COOU), in Anambra State, for ‘setting the pace in judicious utilisation of funds made available to universities by the body for the provision of infrastructure for teaching, learning and research’.
Executive Secretary of the Fund, Dr. Abdulahi Baffa Bichi, at the weekend gave the commendation at the Igbariam campus of the university during an awareness seminar organised by TETFUND.
Bichi noted that the Odumegwu Ojukwu University had the biggest faculties of engineering and pharmaceutical sciences in Nigeria, adding that the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Fidelis Okafor and the management of the institution deserved commendation for judicious use of funds made available by TETFUND for infrastructural development using them for tangible and enviable projects.
Said he, “Today, TETFUND has confirmed that Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University in Anambra State has the biggest faculties of engineering and pharmaceutical sciences in Nigeria. The faculty of engineering that trails behind the one built by Ojukwu University is the one at Ahmadu Belo University, Zaria, Kaduna State.
“Ojukwu University, being a state-owned institution, gets less fund from TETFUND compared to many other universities, but I was marvelled to see the faculties of engineering and that of pharmaceutical sciences at Uli and Igbariam campuses of the university respectively; so, the university has achieved much with less,” he said.
Bichi also noted that the Fund was encouraged by the feat and further promised that it would not relent in its statutory duties of providing funds for tertiary institutions for infrastructure, research and manpower development.
Earlier in his remarks, Vice Chancellor of COOU, Prof. Okafor said that TETFund had intervened in many aspects of the lives of many universities in Nigeria, and added that in Odumegwu Ojukwu University, many academic staff have benefited from the training fund, adding that many of them were still in Japan, some in Australia and in some other high-ranking institutions across the globe, on research and training through TETFUND intervention.
The Vice Chancellor noted with satisfaction that TETFUND had been the life-wire of the nation’s tertiary institutions, especially the universities.
He mentioned laudable projects funded by TETFUND in the institution to include the pharmaceutical science and engineering complexes, faculty of agriculture, two laboratories, centre for entrepreneurship, among others.
He reiterated the need for state governments to rise to the challenge of funding their universities adequately and not to leave them for TETFUND alone.