How TETFUND Plans To strengthen Tech skills, Youth Employment

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has begun moves aimed at further strengthening its intervention activities, including tech skills in the Nigerian education sector.

It has inaugurated three adhoc committees to the effect, and the committees are for Operationalisation of Equipment Upgrade in Workshops and Laboratories for Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education (Technical); Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Operationalisation of Skills Development Special intervention.

At the inauguration ceremony held at the TETFund Headquarters in Abuja, Executive Secretary Arc. Sonny Echono, appreciated committee members for accepting to serve.

He said the constitution of the committees underscored the importance the Fund attached to strengthening its intervention activities towards delivery of its mandate even as it concerns tech skills, expressing the belief that the members would make available their individual capacities towards delivering on the task on hand.

According to him, concerted efforts were being made to identify more innovative ways of enhancing research capacities of beneficiary institutions and promote skills development,  –  one of the priority areas of government aimed at addressing youth unemployment in the country.

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The Executive Secretary stated that to ensure effective implementation of the upgrade of equipment in workshops and laboratories of universities and colleges of education (technical), the Fund constituted an Ad-hoc Committee chaired by Prof Hayward Babale to advise on the operationalisation of the upgrade of the equipment in workshops and laboratories of the institutions.

Part of the terms of reference of the committee, he said, included assessing the state of workshops and laboratories in target institutions including equipment for tech skills and other facilities in use.

It is also to determine of requirements for upgrade of equipment in the workshops and laboratories, among others.

The committee on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres is chaired by Prof. Oyewale Tomori and the terms of reference include assessing performance of existing TETFund Centres of Excellence hosted in universities based on their given mandates and areas of specialisation, among others.

For the Committee on Operationalisation of Skills Development Special intervention, Prof Idris Bugaje, the Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) was appointed as chairman to advise on the modalities for the operationalization of the intervention.

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In his response, Executive Secretary of NBTE and Chairman, Committee on Operationalisation of Skills Development Special Intervention, Prof Idris Bugaje, commended TETFund for its investments in skills development, indicating that it was the right direction towards job creation in Nigeria.