By Olasunkanmi Onifade
Prof. Peter Onwualu, President, African University of Science and Technology (AUST) has urged the National Assembly to review the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Act to accommodate private universities.
Onwualu, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, said the exclusion was unfair and hinders research and growth of private universities.
He said the current law excluded private universities from accessing funds meant for research and infrastructure development within the TETFund framework.
TETFund is meant to provide supplementary funding, infrastructure rehabilitation, and research grants exclusively to public tertiary institutions.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports TETFund Act of 2011 explicitly mandates the Tertiary Education Trust
Private institutions are, by law, excluded, in spite of arguments that they contribute to the nation’s human capital development.
He said the review of the TETFund Act would make it more inclusive, equitable and effective in enhancing educational infrastructure and research, rather than a single publicized position.
“TETFund intervenes directly only in public universities. There is no public university you will go that you will not see 80 per cent of the buildings are labelled as TETFund infrastructure.
“They are even building power stations for them. They are doing all kinds of things in public universities.
“We try to ask why they don’t do same in private schools. The explanation is that TETfund is set up for public universities.
“But that discussion, that conversation is on. But One of the things that TETfund does is that if you are in a private university, you can actually access their funds by tagging on to a public university,’’ he said.
Onwualu said the exclusion was unfair, noting that TETFund was spending taxes paid by Nigerian firms, including those in the private sector.
He said when the private universities collaborate with the public university to access TETFund patronage the principal investigator would come from the public institution.
The NAN reports that AUST is the first of the Nelson Mandela Institutions (NMIs). It was established in Abuja in 2007 as a center of excellence in science and technology with a focus on African development.
Since its inception it has graduated five batches of MSc students in five disciplines, namely, computer science and engineering, pure and applied mathematics, theoretical physics, petroleum engineering, and materials science and engineerin.
It has also produced a batch of PhD graduates.
AUST conducts high-impact, applied research aimed at solving African development challenges.
Its focus areas include materials science, petroleum and mechanical engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, and climate change adaptation. (NAN)
Edited by Ekemini Ladejobi
