The Tertiary Education Trust Fund has approved N130 million as an intervention for polytechnics in its 2023 intervention line, geared towards reinvigorating skills acquisition in polytechnics across the country.
Director of Infrastructure of the Fund, Buhari Mika’ilu, said this at the TETFund/National Board for Technical Education sensitisation workshop in Abuja on Tuesday. The workshop was on the 2023 Zonal Intervention on Skills for Rectors and Directors of Skills in Beneficiary Polytechnics.
Mika’Ilu said that the intervention was to consolidate the efforts of the NBTE in increasing the capacities of polytechnics to deliver on their mandate. He said the intervention was mostly used to support institutions to meet basic requirements for accreditation.
“Funds are allocated in line with the provision of the Establishment Act and guided toward addressing critical and essential needs of the beneficiary institutions for the improvement of quality and maintenance of standards in the tertiary educational institutions.
‘“NBTE has been at the forefront in championing the need to have skills in the educational system in Nigeria.
“It is in response to this, that the Fund has prioritised the 2023 Zonal Allocation to polytechnics to be geared toward reinvigorating skills acquisition in the polytechnics across the country.
“This is to further consolidate the efforts of NBTE to increase the capacities of Polytechnics to deliver on their mandate.
“Therefore, the sum of N130 million only allocated to each polytechnic has the main focus of procurement, installation, testing, training, and commissioning of relevant training materials,’’ he said.
The director also revealed that since the inception of the Zonal Intervention in 2016, the Fund had allocated N52,046,079,584.70 as zonal Intervention to enlisted polytechnics.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, charged rectors of polytechnics to explore innovative approaches to skills development and devise effective solutions that would enhance the quality and relevance of technical education in the institutions.
Echono said that skills development and entrepreneurship represented a holistic process in which individuals in society pursue opportunities and address needs through innovation.
