By Olawale Lamina
In a move to expand training in medical sciences and address palpable shortage in healthcare professionals in the country. the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND has released over ₦100 billion to selected tertiary institutions across the geo-political zones.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the TETFUND Governing Board, Aminu Masari, in Katsina on Saturday, noting that the intervention aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s directive to reverse the brain drain in the health sector.
“The President is particularly worried by the trend and how it is affecting the Nigerian healthcare system, he wants to institute measures in place to enable the healthcare system to recover through deliberate policies such as this ongoing intervention by TETFUND,” Masari said, adding that, to ensure fair representation, three tertiary institutions in each geopolitical zone have each received ₦4 billion to execute projects and academic expansion targeted at enhancing their capacity to admit and train more students in medical fields.
The Chairman of the TETFUND Governing Board revealed that the initiative was intended to double the number of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technicians and other skilled professionals in the healthcare system,
“Every fiscal year, TETFUND carries out interventions at state and zonal levels, but because we have to spread our impact throughout the country, this medical sciences project is TETFUND’s high-impact intervention for 2025,” Masari said.
He said that, to ensure accountability, the Fund has a monitoring and evaluation team comprising consultants who visit tertiary institutions to ensure that monies are spent on the specific projects and programmes for which they are meant.
Masari, the former Katsina State governor stated further that the 2025 allocation represents TETFUND’s highest grant ever, through the ₦1.6 trillion, generated from the 3% education tax on company profits as stipulated in the TETFUND Act. He said that, out of the lump sum, ₦460 billion was set aside for various interventions across tertiary institutions.
“Out of this amount, 40 per cent representing N460 billion was earmarked for various interventions across tertiary institutions in the country.
“For the state-level intervention, three institutions were selected in each state, one university, one polytechnic and one College of Education to benefit from the intervention.
“The interventions are based on demand, the institutions write to us and we select and approve projects for them based on their needs and based on the resources available,” he explained.
Masari disclosed that out of the N1.65 trillion, N225 billion was released to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, for the Federal Government’s student loan initiative.
He said another N70 billion was earmarked as energy support to tertiary institutions, noting that the money will be used by the various institutions to build solar or gas power generation infrastructure.
Also, he said that the agency made a provision of N25 billion to assist some tertiary institutions to provide security on their campuses.
Masari concluded by saying, “The institutions will use the intervention for various projects that pertain to security, such as the installation of street lights within their campuses and other similar projects.”
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