By Ngozi Nwankwo
Executive Governor of Zamfara state, Dauda Lawal has appealed to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund,TETFund, for an increased intervention fund to the state to boost infrastructural development in some state-owned tertiary institutions.
Lawal who made the appeal on Thursday in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit on the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, added that apart from the poor financial standing of Zamfara, the state of emergency he declared in education sector recently requires extensive funding support to succeed.
The Governor also sought the support of TETFund to complete some of the abandoned projects, especially at the State University, in order to expand access to University education in the state.
He underscored the urgency of addressing the pressing challenges within the state’s educational system, highlighting TETFund’s importance in that the respect.
He said “I came to say thank you to TETFUND, but at the same time to ask for more intervention, considering the financial situation of the states.
“Remember, sometimes in November, we declared emergency in education and that is why I’m here to continue to follow up wherever we can get help, so that things will be better in Zamfara”.
Speaking on the security situation in the state, Lawal said security has become a major challenge in the state, he thereby assured that the government is on it.
On his part, Sonny Echono, the executive secretary, TETFUND, assured that despite the security challenges in Zamfara state, the fund is doing a lot to ensure that education continues in the state
He said TETFUND is ensuring that every part of the country and every student across the country have access to quality education.
Echono said: “He (the Governor) came on appreciation visit, because we are doing a lot despite the security challenges in Zamfara. We want to make sure that education continues and to make sure that every part of this country, our students wherever they may be, have access to good quality education.
“He came with very specific request, especially as it relates to state institutions. Zamfara like any other states is one of the beneficiaries of our High-Impact projects and he was canvassing for us to complete some already ongoing projects, because they are having funding challenges,” the TETFund boss said.
Echono added that some of the abandoned projects were initiated by successive governments and that the Governor wants TETFund to take them over and to complete them.
According him, the Governor felt that rather start new projects, if those ongoing projects are completed, it would be more beneficial to the state.
The TETFund boss, however, said the initial constraint in taking over such abandoned projects would be that TETFund would have to separate what is its project from the projects solely embarked upon by the state.