TETFund’s New Committees: Up-scaling Skills Development and Strengthening Intervention Activities in Nigeria

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has inaugurated three ad hoc committees to enhance skills development and reinforce the Fund’s intervention activities in Nigeria.

The committees, which were inaugurated by the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, aim to address the challenges of youth unemployment and poverty in the country.

The first committee, ‘Committee on operationalisation of equipment upgrade in workshops and laboratories for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education (technical)’, will assess the state of workshops and laboratories in target institutions, including equipment and other facilities in use.

The second committee, ‘Committee on assessment/review of TETFund centres of excellence’, will evaluate the performance and progress of the existing centres in universities based on their specific mandates and areas of specialisation.

The third committee, ‘Committee on operationalisation of skills development special intervention’, will assess the present state of Skills Development Programmes in Polytechnics based on the entrepreneurship and skills development policy of the government.

Echono emphasized the importance of promoting skills development and ensuring that the various skills facilities are effectively used for operations.

He highlighted the Fund’s provision for the upgrade of equipment in workshops and laboratories for Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education (Technical) under the 2024 intervention.

The committees are expected to submit their reports within six weeks from the day they were constituted.

Prof Idris Bugaje, the Chairman of the Committee on operationalisation of skills development special intervention, commended the Fund for its investment in skills development.

He stressed the importance of the three committees in promoting skills development, noting that skills cut across all of them.

Bugaje also emphasized the need for polytechnics to focus on their specific roles in providing skills and training their own, rather than emulating universities.

The inauguration of these three committees by TETFund is a significant step towards up-scaling skills development and strengthening intervention activities in Nigeria.

By focusing on the operationalisation of equipment upgrade in workshops and laboratories, assessment and review of centres of excellence, and the operationalisation of skills development special intervention, the committees aim to address the challenges of youth unemployment and poverty in the country.