By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
The Vice-Chancellor of Federal University, Lokoja (FUL), Professor Olayemi Akinwumi, has appealed to the federal government to reconsider its plan to discontinue the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in tertiary institutions across the country.
Akinwumi made the appeal on Thursday when the new executive members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) paid him a familiarization visit at the university’s Felele main campus.
He warned that scrapping TETFund would severely impact infrastructure development in Nigerian universities and polytechnics.
“If TETFund is stopped, it will lead to the collapse of the university and polytechnic education system in Nigeria, particularly in the area of infrastructure development,” Akinwumi stated.
“Universities and polytechnics in Nigeria have relied heavily on TETFund projects to survive. Any attempt to stop it will certainly do more harm than good to the system,” he added.
The vice-chancellor commended TETFund’s contribution to Nigeria’s tertiary education, describing it as the lifeline for infrastructural development.
To complement TETFund’s efforts, he noted that his administration had embarked on aggressive internal revenue generation (IGR). As part of this initiative, the university established FUL Felele Consultant Ltd. and the Directorate of Consultancy Services, which oversees ventures such as a printing press, table water factory, farm, shopping complex, zoo and conservatory, senior staff club, and a block-molding industry.
Akinwumi further highlighted his administration’s achievements, including the expansion of faculties from four to ten. New faculties introduced include Pharmacy, Engineering, Agriculture, Law, Education Management and Planning, and the College of Health Sciences.
He also revealed that under his leadership, all 47 academic programs at FUL had received full accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) as of June 2024.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of Kogi NUJ, Segun Salami, said the purpose of the visit was to strengthen collaboration with the university and enhance publicity for its activities.
